


Reading Blood of Olympus

by anenomenome



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Reading the Books, There isn't any plot, but thats ok we love a reading the books fic anyway, hercules is Bad, hercules is also there, i still dont know how to tag, like no plot, reading the books fic, the gods are like wow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2020-12-07 22:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20983247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anenomenome/pseuds/anenomenome
Summary: It's 8 BCE, and the gods have just finished fighting the first giant war when a group of teenagers fall from the sky, bringing with them quite a tale to tell. Or rather, read.





	1. Introductions are made

**Author's Note:**

> so this is a typical reading the books fic but its about BOO so that's new. Anyways, this chapter is short but it's not indicative of the rest of the series (hopefully)

8 century BC:

The gods were sitting on Mount Olympus. They had just finished fighting the Giant war, and decided they had earned some relaxing, for at least a few centuries.

"Good thing that the giants are never going to rise again," said Demeter. "That was hard." A chuckle sounded from the shadows in the corner of the throne room. All the gods, startled, drew their weapons.]

"Show yourself!" demanded Zeus.

Three old ladies stepped forward. The fates.

"You say that the giants will never rise again," the one on the right, Clotho, rasped.

"This is not true," said the Lachesis.

"Thousands of years from now, the giant war will be fought again, by the greatest heroes known to humanity," said Atropos.

"Whoa whoa whoa," yelled Heracles. "I thought I was the greatest hero known to mankind!"

"Humanity" coughed Artemis.

"Fine, humanity."

"Well I thought I was the best," said Perseus.

"No I" said Bellerophon.

"No I" Said Theseus

"Shut up!" yelled Ares. "I want to hear about the war!"

"None of you are the greatest," said the fates. "Tis these heroes, who did deeds even the gods themselves could not do. But Ares, your wish will be granted" Outraged, all the gods yelled and strode angrily towards the fates, but with a wink they disappeared in a flash of golden light, leaving only the words 'learn' echoing around the room. Confusedly the gods looked around, until a second flash of light appeared in the air.

A group of teenagers fell out of it and landed in a pile on the ground. With a lot of muttering and cursing, they untangled themselves. When they saw where they were, there were gasps.

"Explain yourselves! Who are you!" boomed Zeus. A letter appeared. Athena picked it up and read it aloud. Gods and Demigods, We have called heroes from the future of the time of the second giant war to explain the hardships demigods face and to answer the argument over which heroes are the greatest, and also to share experiences between the demigods and have you all understand each other better. Demigods from the future, please introduce yourself, stating your godly parent and whichever titles you wish.

The gods looked expectantly at the group. After some hesitation and glares at each other - "you go first!" "no you!", a boy with dark hair and sea-green eyes stepped forward.

"My name is Percy Jackson," he said, "son of Poseidon." Poseidon looked at his son, and could see the family resemblance.

"Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena." The gods looked confused over how a maiden goddess could have children, but after a sharp glare from Annabeth they chose not to comment.

"Piper McLean, Daughter of Aphrodite." Aphrodite smiled sweetly at her daughter. She hadn't too many children currently, and having a daughter be one of the most powerful heroes was nice.

"Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades."

"Waddup gods, it's me, Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, fire-user, commander of the Argo 2, and the super-sized mcshiz-" He was cut off by a sharp slap upside the head from Piper.

"Relevant titles, please."

"Beauty Queen, everything about me is relevant!" The two would have bickered longer, but instead a boy with blonde hair stepped forward.

"I'm Jason Grace, son of Jupiter." At this many were confused. Who is Jupiter? A minor god o something?

Sensing their confusion, Jason said, "Jupiter is an alter ego of Zeus - after Greece, there was another empire named Rome that adopted the Greek gods, and so in the future the gods have two personalities, greek and roman, and there are greek and roman demigods."

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, Roman version of Hades."

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars, Roman version of Ares."

"Thalia (i don't use my last name neither should you), Jason is my little bro, daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of Artemis." Artemis looked at her future lieutenant, and deemed her worthy.

[insert introductions of the rest of CHB and CJ campers here because I can't introduce them all]

"Reyna, also no last name, daughter of Bellona (another Roman goddess of war), Praetor of the twelfth Legion." At this, the gods were again confused. What's a Praetor? Reyna explained that it was like their leader. After the introductions were all done, there was an awkward silence. No one knew what they should do now. A golden flash, and a book and a note fell to the ground. The book was called Blood of Olympus, and the note read, Here is the book that chronicles the giant war. Read it, and understand. Future demigods, do not worry. There will be no consequences of the time travel.

Apollo shrugged. "Guess we've got to read now. I'll go first," he said. He picked up the book and opened to the first chapter. "Chapter one…"


	2. Jason I

"Jason I," Apollo read.

**Jason hated being old.**

**His joints hurt. His legs shook. As he tried to climb the hill, his lungs rattled like a box of rocks.**

**He couldn't see his face, thank goodness, but his fingers were gnarled and bony. Bulging blue veins webbed the backs of his hands.**

**He even had that old man smell - mothballs and chicken soup. How was that possible? He'd gone from sixteen to seventy-five in a matter of seconds, but the old man smell happened instantly like ** _ **boom** _ **. Congratulations! You stink!**

"Wait," said Hermes. "How can he go from sixteen to seventy-five?"

"Hazel manipulated the Mist," replied Jason. With that all figured out, Zeus waved at Apollo to continue reading.

"**Almost there." Piper smiled at him. "You're doing great."**

**Easy for her to say. Piper and Annabeth were disguised as lovely Greek serving maidens. Even in their white sleeveless gowns and laced sandals, they had no trouble navigating the rocky path.**

**Piper's mahogany hair was pinned up in a braided spiral. Silver bracelets adorned her arms. She resembles an ancient statue of her mom, Aphrodite, which Jason found a little intimidating.**

**Dating a beautiful girl was nerve-racking enough. Dating a girl whose mom was the goddess of love… well, Jason was always afraid he'd do something unromantic, and Piper's mom would frown down from Mount Olympus and change him into a feral hog.**

Aphrodite gasped.

"Oh Jason, I would never! Only if you HURT HER in ANY WAY I would turn you into something WORSE!" She then resumed inspecting her nails as if nothing had happened. A stunned silence ensued, broken only by Apollo's hesitant reading.

**Jason glanced uphill. The summit was still a hundred yards above.**

"**Worst idea ever." He leaned against a cedar tree and wiped his forehead. "Hazel's magic is too good. If I have to fight. I'll be useless."**

"**It won't come to that," Annabeth promised. She looked uncomfortable in her serving-maiden outfit. She kept hunching her shoulders to keep the dress from slipping. Her pinned-up blond bun had come undone in the back and her hair dangled like long spider legs. Knowing her hatred of spiders, Jason decided not to mention that.**

Both Annabeth and Athena shuddered at the mention of spiders.

"**We infiltrate the palace," she said. "We get the information we need, and we get out."**

**Piper set down her amphora, the tall ceramic wine jar in which her sword was hidden "We can rest for a second. Catch your breath, Jason."**

**From her waist hung her cornucopia - the magic horn of plenty. Tucked somewhere in the folds of her dress was her knife, Katoptris. Piper didn't look dangerous, but if the need arose, she could dual-wield Celestial bronze blades or shoot her enemies in the face with ripe mangoes.**

Piper smiled at her boyfriend.

**Annabeth slung her own amphora off her shoulder. She too had a concealed sword; but even without a visible weapon, she looked deadly. If any dude asked Annabeth for a drink, Jason figured she was more likely to kick the guy in the ** _ **bifurcum** _ **.**

"And she most definitely has," teased Percy. "I remember when Connor Stoll put a spider in the Athena cabin, and when she found out who did it-" He was cut off by a slap on the head from Annabeth.

**He tried to steady his breathing.**

**Below them, Afales Bay glittered, the water so blue it could have been dyed with food coloring. A few hundred yards offshore, the **_**Argo II**_ **rested at anchor. Its white sails looked no bigger than postage stamps, it's ninety oars like toothpicks. Jason imagined his friends following his progress, taking turns with Leo's spyglass, trying not to laugh as they watched Grandpa Jason hobble uphill.**

"**Stupid Ithaca," he muttered.**

**He supposed the island was pretty enough. A spine of forested hills twisted down it's center. Chalky white slopes plunged into the sea. Inlets formed rocky beaches and harbors where red-roofed houses and white stucco churches nestled against the shoreline.**

**The hills were dotted with poppies, crocuses, and wild cherry trees. The breeze smelled of blooming myrtle.**

"Summertime is very pretty" mused Demeter.

"Yes," replied Hades. "You and Persephone do a nice job." This was a new development for many, who never knew Hades had it in him to be nice or that he understood what summer was like.

**All very nice - except the temperature was about a hundred and five degrees. The air was as steamy as a Roman bathhouse.**

"Hate it when it's steamy," muttered Athena. "It causes books to rot and doesn't allow for any form of concentration."

**It would have been easy for Jason to control the winds and fly to the top of the hill but ** _ **nooo** _ **. For the sake of stealth, he had to struggle along as an old dude with bad knees and chicken-soup stink.**

"I remember when I found out you could fly"_,_ whispered Thalia to Jason. "You're such a cheater."

**He thought about his last climb, two weeks ago, when Hazel and he faced the bandit Sciron on the cliffs of Croatia. At least then Jason had been at full strength. What they were about to face would be much worse than a bandit.**

"**You sure this is the right hill?" he asked. "Seems kind of - I don't know - **_**quiet.**_"

**Piper studied the ridgeline. Braided in her hair was a bright blue harpy feather - a souvenir from last night's attack. The feather didn't exactly go with her disguise, but Piper earned it, defeating an entire flock of demon chicken ladies by herself while she was on duty. She downplayed the accomplishment, but Jason could tell she felt good about it. The feather was a reminder that she wasn't the same girl she'd been last winter, when they'd first arrived at Camp Half-Blood.**

"**The ruins are up there," she promised. "I saw them in Katoptris's blade. And you heard what Hazel said. 'The biggest-'"**

"'**The biggest gathering of evil spirits I've ever sensed,'" Jason recalled. "Yeah, sounds awesome."**

"I thought that you couldn't sense the undead - only precious metals," questioned a camper.

"Yes, precious metals is my strong point," replied Hazel, "but I can also sense spirits as well, just like Nico has some control over the earth and metals." This satisfied and further questions, but left Hades and others musing on how perfectly the two children of the death god encapsulate their father's nature.

**After battling through the underground temple of Hades, the last thing Jason wanted was to deal with more evil spirits. But the fate of the quest was at stake. The crew of the ** _ **Argo II ** _ **had a big decision to make. If they chose wrong, they would fail, and the entire world would be destroyed.**

"I don't understand…" said Ares.

"Yeah well you don't understand anything," snorted Athena, which was followed by an OOH BURN from many demigods.

Piper, trying not to grin, replied, "all will be revealed later."

**Piper's blade, Hazel's magical senses, and Annabeth's instincts all agreed - the answer lay here in Ithaca, at the ancient palace of Odysseus, where a horde of evil spirits had gathered to await Gaea's orders. The plan was to sneak among them, learn what was going on, and decide the best course of action. Then get out, preferably alive.**

**Annabeth adjusted her golden belt. "I hope our disguises hold up. The suitors were nasty customers when they were alive. If they find out we're demigods-"**

"**Hazel's magic will work," Piper said.**

**Jason tried to believe that.**

_**The suitors:**_ **a hundred of the greediest, evilest cutthroats who'd ever lived. When Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, went missing after the Trojan War, this mob of B-list princes had invaded his palace and refused to leave, each one hoping to marry Queen Penelope and take over the kingdom. Odysseus had managed to return in secret and slaughter them all - your basic happy homecoming. But if Piper's visions were right, the suitors were now back haunting the place where they'd died.**

**Jason couldn't believe he was about to visit the actual palace of Odysseus - one of the most famous Greek heroes of all time.**

Cue muttering from the ancient heroes about how _they _were the most famous hero, only to be cut off by a loud, booming, _**SILENCE**_ from Poseidon.

"Thank you."

**Then again, this whole quest had been one mind-blowing event after another. Annabeth herself had just come back from the eternal abyss of Tartarus. Given that, Jason decided maybe he shouldn't complain about being an old man.**

"Wait WHAT!" yelled pretty much everybody. They all stared at Annabeth.

"Umm… yeah…" she said. "Percy and I, but also Nico by himself were in Tartarus." A million questions were fired at the same time, mainly _how_ and _why_, but the big realization was that _this is maybe what the fates meant when they said they had done things the gods themselves shy at_. After begging from Percy, Annabeth, and Nico, Apollo reluctantly began reading again.

"**Well…" He steadied himself with his walking stick. "If I **_**look**_ **as old as I feel, my disguise must be perfect. Let's get going."**

**As they climbed, sweat trickled down his neck. HIs calves ached. Despite the heat, he began to shiver. And try as he might, he couldn't stop thinking about his recent dreams.**

**Ever since the House of Hades, they'd gotten more vivid.**

**Sometimes Jason stood in the underground temple of Epirus, the giant Clytius looming over him, speaking in a chorus of disembodied voices. ** _ **It took all of you together to defeat me. What will you do when the Earth Mother opens her eyes?** _

**Other times Jason found himself at the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Gaea the Earth Mother rose from the ground - a swirling figure of soil, leaves, and stones.**

"Wait," said Hera. "You are fighting _her?"_

"Yes!" exclaimed Annabeth. "We fought Gaea and it was really hard and we _know that _but can we please _continue_ there is a lot more to read!"

_**Poor child.**_ **Her voice resonated across the landscape, shaking the bedrock under Jason's feet. **_**Your father is first among the gods, yet you are always second best - to your Roman comrades, to your Greek friends, even to your family. How will you prove yourself?**_

There were many exclamations, mainly from Pipe and Leo, about how he was not second best, and that he was a good friend.

**His worst dream started in the courtyard of the Sonoma Wolf House. Before him stood the goddess Juno, glowing with the radiance of molten silver.**

_**Your life belongs to me,**_ **her voice thundered. **_**An appeasement from Zeus.**_

**Jason knew he shouldn't look, but he couldn't close his eyes as Juno went supernova, revealing her true godly form. Pain seared Jason's mind. His body burned away in layers like an onion.**

"Idiot," snorted Ares. "Everyone knows that you're not supposed to look at a god in their true form."

"He said he knew, but couldn't close his eyes for whatever reason!" exclaimed Percy, who, loyal as always, felt the need to stick up for his bro.

**Then the scene changed. Jason was still at the Wolf House, but now he was a little boy - no more than two years old. A woman knelt before him, her lemony scent so familiar. Her features were watery and indistinct, but he knew her voice: bright and brittle, like the thinnest layers of ice over a fast stream.**

"Who is she," asked a legionnaire.

"Mom," whispered Thalia, barely audible in the large room.

_**I will be back for you, dearest, **_**she said.** _**I will see you soon.**_

**Every time Jason woke up from that nightmare, his face was beaded with sweat. His eyes stung with tears.**

**Nico di Angelo had warned them: the House of Hades would stir their worst memories, make them see things and hear things from the past. Their ghosts would become restless.**

**Jason hoped that **_**particular**_ **ghost would stay away, but every night the dream got worse. Now he was climbing to the ruins of a palace where an army of ghosts had gathered.**

_**That doesn't mean **_**she'll** _**be there, **_**Jason told himself.**

"Why would you not want to see your mom," said the same legionnaire.

"Well I thought he didn't know her at all," replied another.

"Our mother was terrible and neither of us want to see her ever again, Jason has fuzzy memories, most bad, as you can see, and that's it. End of discussion," snapped Thalia.

**But his hands wouldn't stop trembling. Every step seemed harder than the last.**

"**Almost there," Annabeth said. "Let's-"**

_**BOOM!**_ **The hillside rumbled. Somewhere over the ridge, a crowd roared in approval, like spectators in a coliseum. The sound made Jason's skin crawl. Not long ago, he'd fought for his life in the Roman Colosseum before a cheering ghostly audience. He wasn't anxious to repeat the experience.**

"**What was that explosion?" he wondered.**

"**Don't know," Piper said. "But it sounds like they're having fun. Let's go make some dead friends.**

"Haha," laughed the Stolls. "Dead friends! Maybe you should read next, Di Angelo!"

"No," said Nico, dryly.

"Come on, it's dead friends! Your thing!"

"No!"

"You _need _to!"

"No!" said Jason angrily. "He said he doesn't want to! _I_ will read." He snatched to book out of Apollo's hands and opened to the next chapter with a huff.

"Chapter two…"


	3. Jason II

**Naturally, the situation was worse than Jason expected.**

"It always is," muttered a camper to their friend, but the gods heard and wondered, _how much have these children gone through, to expect hardships as ordinary?_

**It wouldn't have been any fun otherwise.**

"You have such a sick sense of humor, Jason, do you know that?" said Leo.

"Well I don't know, overcoming odds is kind of satisfying?" Jason defended.

**Peering through the olive bushes at the top of the rise, he saw what looked like an out-of control zombie frat party.**

"What is a frat party?" questioned Athena.

"Well… I think it'll explain later," said Jason.

**The ruins themselves weren't that impressive: a few stone walls, a weed-choked central courtyard, a dead-end stairwell chiseled into the rock. Some plywood sheets covered a pit and a metal scaffold supported a cracked archway.**

**But superimposed over the ruins was another layer of reality - a spectral mirage of the palace as it must have appeared in its heyday. Whitewashed stucco walls lined with balconies rose three stories high. Columbed porticoes faced the central atrium, which had a huge fountain and bronze braziers. At a dozen banquet tables, ghosts laughed and ate and pushed one another around.**

**Jason had expected about a hundred spirits, but twice that many were milling about, chasing spectral serving girls, smashing plates and cups, and basically making a nuisance of themselves.**

"Is this what a 'frat party' is like?"

"Yes."

**Most looked like Lares from Camp Jupiter - transparent purple wraiths in tunics and sandals. A few revelers had decaying bodies with gray flesh, matted clumps of hair, and nasty wounds.**

Aphrodite gagged. "Eww!"

**Others seemed to be regular living mortals - some in togas, some in modern business suits or army fatigues. Jason even spotted one guy in a purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt and Roman legionnaire armor.**

"Wait _what_," exclaimed Reyna. "A legionnaire serving Gaea? I would know if someone left, and no one has yet."

She frowned and grabbed the book from Jason's hands. She flipped forward a few pages.

"Oh," she said, keeping a straight face. "It explains later." She handed the book back.

**In the center of the atrium, a gray-skinned ghoul in a tattered Greek tunic paraded through the crowd, holding a marble bust over his head like a sports trophy. The other ghosts cheered and slapped him on the back. As the ghoul got closer, Jason noticed that he had an arrow in his throat, the feathered shaft sprouting from his Adam's apple.**

Athena mused, "Antinous," a thoughtful expression on her face.

**Even more disturbing: the bust he was holding… was that ** _ **Zeus** _ **?**

"They are destroying statues of me!" yelled Zeus. "Unacceptable!" The smell of ozone permeated the air, and tendrils of lighting flickered off the god's furious form.

"Maybe it's not you?" said a cowering Leo.

**It was hard to be sure.**

"See?"

**Most Greek god statues looked similar.**

"Hey!" called out Ares.

"Well you're all like _related_, obviously you look similar," muttered Thalia.

**But the bearded, glowering face reminded Jason very much of the giant Hippie Zeus in Cabin One at Camp Half-Blood.**

"Destroying statues… Hippie Zeus… what has the world come to." grumbled Zeus. Even though he didn't know what a hippie was, he could tell it wasn't a compliment.

"**Our next offering!" the ghoul shouted, his voice buzzing from the arrow in his throat. "Let us feed the Earth Mother!"**

**The partyers yelled and pounded their cups. The ghoul made his way to the central fountain. The crowd parted, and Jason realized the fountain wasn't filled with water.**

"Haha it's so weird to hear you talk about yourself in third person, Jason," laughed the Stolls. "You sure you're okay?"

Jason ignored them and continued reading.

**From the three-foot-tall pedestal, a geyser of sand spewed upward, arcing into an umbrella-shaped curtain of white particles before spilling into the circular basin.**

**The ghoul heaved the marble bust into the fountain. As soon as Zeus' head passed through the shower of sand, the marble disintegrated like it was going through a wood chipper. The sand glittered gold, the color of ichor - godly blood. Then the entire mountain rumbled with a muffled ** _ **BOOM** _ **, as if belching after a meal.**

**The dead partygoers roared with approval.**

"**Any more statues," the ghoul shouted to the crowd. "No? Then I guess we'll have to wait for some **_**real**_ **gods to sacrifice!"**

**His comrades laughed and applauded as the ghoul plopped himself down at the nearest feast table.**

**Jason clenched his walking stick. "That guy just disintegrated my dad. Who does he think he ** _ **is** _ **?"**

"**I'm guessing that's Antinous," said Annabeth, "one of the suitor's leaders. If I remember right, it was Odysseus who shot him through the neck with that arrow."**

"See!" proclaimed Athena. "I was right!"

"No one said you weren't," said Hermes.

**Piper winced. "You'd think that would keep a guy down. What about all the others? Why are there so many?"**

"**I don't know," Annabeth said. "Newer recruits for Gaea, I guess. Some must've come back to life before we closed the Doors of Death. Some are just spirits."**

"**Some are ghouls," Jason said. "The ones with the gaping wounds and the gray skin, like Antinous… I've fought their kind before."**

**Piper tugged at her blue harpy feather. "Can they be killed?"**

**Jason remembered a quest he'd taken for Camp Jupiter years ago in San Bernardino. "Not easily. They're strong and fast and intelligent. Also, they eat human flesh."**

"**Fantastic," Annabeth muttered. "I don't see any option except to stick to the plan. Split up, infiltrate, find out why they're here. If things go bad- "**

"**We use the backup plan," Piper said.**

**Jason hated the backup plan.**

**Before they left the ship, Leo had given each of them an emergency flare the size of a birthday candle. Supposedly, if they tossed one in the air, it would shoot upward in a streak of white phosphorus, alerting the ** _ **Argo II ** _ **that the team was in trouble. At that point, Jason and the girls would have a few seconds to take cover before the ship's catapults fired on their position, engulfing the palace in Greek fire and bursts of Celestial bronze shrapnel.**

"Nice job, boy," rumbled Hephaestus. He slapped Leo on the back. "Those weapons would most certainly destroy the ghosts. I assume you built them?"

"Of course," said Leo, proud his dad was recognizing him.

**Not the safest plan, but at least Jason had the satisfaction of knowing that he could call an air strike on this noisy mob of dead guys if the situation got dicey. Of course, that was assuming he and his friends could get away. And assuming Leo's doomsday candles didn't go off by accident – Leo's inventions sometimes did that**

"They do not!"

– **in which case the weather would get much hotter, with a ninety percent chance of fiery apocalypse.**

"You would be a _great_ weathercaster," chorused the stolls.

"**Be careful down there," he told Piper and Annabeth.**

**Piper crept around the left side of the ridge. Annabeth went right. Jason pulled himself up with his walking stick and hobbled towards the ruins.**

**He flashed back to the last time he'd plunged into a mob of evil spirits, in the House of Hades. If it hadn't been for Frank Zhang and Nico di Angelo …**

**Gods … Nico.**

"Oh no," Nico groaned. He buried his face in his hands "Can we skip this part?"

"No!"

**Over the past few days, every time Jason sacrificed a portion of a meal to Jupiter, he prayed to his dad to help Nico. That kid had gone through so much, and yet he had volunteered for the most difficult job: transporting the Athena Parthenos statue to Camp Half-Blood. If he didn't succeed, the Roman and Greek demigods would slaughter each other. Then, no matter what happened in Greece, the Argo II would have no home to return to.**

Everyone - gods and campers - looked at Nico with newfound respect. Even though the kid didn't look like much, apparently he had great courage.

**Jason passed through the palace's ghostly gateway. He realized just in time that a section of mosaic floor in front of him was an illusion covering a ten-foot-deep excavation pit. He sidestepped it and continued into the courtyard.**

**The two levels of reality reminded him of the Titan stronghold on Mount Othrys – a disorienting maze of black marble walls that randomly melted into shadow and solidified again. At least during that fight Jason had had a hundred legionnaires at his side. Now all he had was an old man's body, a stick and two friends in slinky dresses.**

**Forty feet ahead of him, Piper moved through the crowd, smiling and filling wineglasses for the ghostly revellers. If she was afraid, she didn't show it. So far the ghosts weren't paying her any special attention. Hazel's magic must have been working.**

**Over on the right, Annabeth collected empty plates and goblets. She wasn't smiling.**

Percy snickered. Annabeth slapped him.

**Jason remembered the talk he'd had with Percy before leaving the ship.**

She turned to him again, eyebrow raised.

**Percy had stayed aboard to watch for threats from the sea, but he hadn't liked the idea of Annabeth going on this expedition without him – especially since it would be the first time they were apart since returning from Tartarus.**

**He'd pulled Jason aside. "Hey, man … Annabeth would kill me if I suggested she needed anybody to protect her."**

**Jason laughed. "Yeah, she would."**

"**But look out for her, okay?"**

"Aww, thanks," Annabeth said. They kissed.

"Ergh, no PDA!" Three guesses to who said that.

**Jason squeezed his friend's shoulder. "I'll make sure she gets back to you safely."**

**Now Jason wondered if he could keep that promise.**

"Oh no," said Frank.

**He reached the edge of the crowd.**

**A raspy voice cried, "IROS!"**

**Antinous, the ghoul with the arrow in his throat, was staring right at him. "Is that you, you old beggar?"**

**Hazel's magic did its work. Cold air rippled across Jason's face as the Mist subtly altered his appearance, showing the suitors what they expected to see.**

"**That's me!" Jason said. "Iros!"**

**A dozen more ghosts turned towards him. Some scowled and gripped the hilts of their glowing purple swords. Too late, Jason wondered if Iros was an enemy of theirs, but he'd already committed to the part.**

"Oh no," said Frank

**He hobbled forward, putting on his best cranky old man expression. "Guess I'm late to the party. I hope you saved me some food?"**

**One of the ghosts sneered in disgust. "Ungrateful old panhandler. Should I kill him, Antinous?"**

"Oh no," said Frank.

"You've said that three times," said a nearby camper. "Please stop."

**Jason's neck muscles tightened.**

**Antinous regarded him for three counts, then chuckled. "I'm in a good mood today. Come, Iros, join me at my table."**

**Jason didn't have much choice. He sat across from Antinous while more ghosts crowded around, leering as if they expected to see a particularly vicious arm-wrestling contest.**

**Up close, Antinous's eyes were solid yellow. His lips stretched paper-thin over wolfish teeth. At first, Jason thought the ghoul's curly dark hair was disintegrating. Then he realized a steady stream of dirt was trickling from Antinous's scalp, spilling over his shoulders. Clods of mud filled the old sword gashes in the ghoul's grey skin. More dirt spilled from the base of the arrow wound in his throat.**

Aphrodite gagged.

**The power of Gaia, Jason thought. The earth is holding this guy together.**

**Antinous slid a golden goblet and a platter of food across the table. "I didn't expect to see you here, Iros. But I suppose even a beggar can sue for retribution. Drink. Eat."**

**Thick red liquid sloshed in the goblet. On the plate sat a steaming brown lump of mystery meat.**

**Jason's stomach rebelled. Even if ghoul food didn't kill him, his vegetarian girlfriend probably wouldn't kiss him for a month.**

"Don't worry," laughed Piper. "I wouldn't kiss you for a _year!_"

**He recalled what Notus the South Wind had told him: A wind that blows aimlessly is no good to anyone.**

**Jason's entire career at Camp Jupiter had been built on careful choices. He mediated between demigods, listened to all sides of an argument, found compromises. Even when he chafed against Roman traditions, he thought before he acted. He wasn't impulsive.**

**Notus had warned him that such hesitation would kill him. Jason had to stop deliberating and take what he wanted.**

**If he was an ungrateful beggar, he had to act like one.**

**He ripped off a chunk of meat with his fingers and stuffed it in his mouth. He guzzled some red liquid, which thankfully tasted like watered-down wine, not blood or poison. Jason fought the urge to gag, but he didn't keel over or explode.**

"**Yum!" He wiped his mouth. "Now tell me about this … what did you call it? Retribution? Where do I sign up?"**

**The ghosts laughed. One pushed his shoulder and Jason was alarmed that he could actually feel it.**

"That makes no sense," whispered Hades to himself. "They _shouldn't _be able to touch him…"

**At Camp Jupiter, Lares had no physical substance. Apparently these spirits did – which meant more enemies who could beat, stab or decapitate him.**

**Antinous leaned forward. "Tell me, Iros, what do you have to offer? We don't need you to run messages for us like in the old days. Certainly you aren't a fighter. As I recall, Odysseus crushed your jaw and tossed you into the pigsty."**

**Jason's neurons fired. Iros … the old man who'd run messages for the suitors in exchange for scraps of food. Iros had been sort of like their pet homeless person. When Odysseus came home, disguised as a beggar, Iros thought the new guy was moving in on his territory. The two had started arguing …**

"**You made Iros –"**

"Uh oh, cover blown!" teased Leo.

**Jason hesitated. "You made me fight Odysseus. You bet money on it. Even when Odysseus took off his shirt and you saw how muscular he was … you still made me fight him. You didn't care if I lived or died!"**

**Antinous bared his pointed teeth. "Of course I didn't care. I still don't! But you're here, so Gaia must have had a reason to allow you back into the mortal world. Tell me, why are you worthy of a share in our spoils?"**

"**What spoils?"**

**Antinous spread his hands. "The entire world, my friend. The first time we met here, we were only after Odysseus's land, his money and his wife."**

"**Especially his wife!" A bald ghost in ragged clothes elbowed Jason in the ribs. "That Penelope was a hot little honey cake!"**

Drew made a disgusted face.

**Jason caught a glimpse of Piper serving drinks at the next table. She discreetly put her finger to her mouth in a gag me gesture, then went back to flirting with dead guys.**

**Antinous sneered. "Eurymachus, you whining coward. You never stood a chance with Penelope. I remember you blubbering and pleading for your life with Odysseus, blaming everything on me!"**

"**Lot of good it did me." Eurymachus lifted his tattered shirt, revealing an inch-wide hole in the middle of his spectral chest. "Odysseus shot me in the heart, just because I wanted to marry his wife!"**

"Just, oh _just_ because he wanted to marry his wife! Marriage is sacred!" raged Hera. She would have continued on and and given the rest of the room a headache, but Jason began reading.

"**At any rate …" Antinous turned to Jason. "We have gathered now for a much bigger prize. Once Gaia destroys the gods, we will divide up the remnants of the mortal world!"**

"**Dibs on London!" yelled a ghoul at the next table.**

"**Montreal!" shouted another.**

"**Duluth!" yelled a third, which momentarily stopped the conversation as the other ghosts gave him confused looks.**

**The meat and wine turned to lead in Jason's stomach. "What about the rest of these … guests? I count at least two hundred. Half of them are new to me."**

**Antinous's yellow eyes gleamed. "All of them are suitors for Gaia's favour. All have claims and grievances against the gods or their pet heroes. That scoundrel over there is Hippias,**

"I hate Hippias," muttered Athena.

**former tyrant of Athens. He got deposed and sided with the Persians to attack his own countrymen. No morals whatsoever. He'd do anything for power."**

"**Thank you!" called Hippias.**

"**That rogue with the turkey leg in his mouth," Antinous continued, "that's Hasdrubal of Carthage. He has a grudge to settle with Rome."**

"**Mhhmm," said the Carthaginian.**

"**And Michael Varus –"**

All Romans were in an uproar about how their past Praetor could betray Rome, and confusing the Greeks who didn't know who he was.

"Settle down now," said Chiron calmly. "I believe it will explain."

**Jason choked. "Who?**

**Over by the sand fountain, the dark-haired guy in the purple T-shirt and legionnaire armour turned to face them. His outline was blurred, smoky and indistinct, so Jason guessed he was some form of spirit, but the legion tattoo on his forearm was clear enough: the letters SPQR, the double-faced head of the god Janus and six score marks for years of service. On his breastplate hung the badge of praetorship and the emblem of the Fifth Cohort.**

**Jason had never met Michael Varus. The infamous praetor had died in the 1980s. Still, Jason's skin crawled when he met Varus's gaze. Those sunken eyes seemed to bore right through Jason's disguise.**

**Antinous waved dismissively. "He's a Roman demigod. Lost his legion's eagle in … Alaska, was it? Doesn't matter. Gaia lets him hang around. He insists he has some insight into defeating Camp Jupiter. But you, Iros – you still haven't answered my question. Why should you be welcome among us?"**

**Varus's dead eyes had unnerved Jason. He could feel the Mist thinning around him, reacting to his uncertainty.**

**Suddenly Annabeth appeared at Antinous's shoulder. "More wine, my lord? Oops!"**

**She spilled the contents of a silver pitcher down the back of Antinous's neck.**

"**Gahh!" The ghoul arched his spine. "Foolish girl! Who let you back from Tartarus?"**

"**A Titan, my lord."**

Percy rested his chin on Annabeth's shoulder as he mumbled, "Bob."

**Annabeth dipped her head apologetically. "May I bring you some moist towelettes? Your arrow is dripping."**

"**Begone!"**

**Annabeth caught Jason's eye – a silent message of support – then she disappeared in the crowd.**

**The ghoul wiped himself off, giving Jason a chance to collect his thoughts.**

**He was Iros … former messenger of the suitors. Why would he be here? Why should they accept him?**

**He picked up the nearest steak knife and stabbed it into the table, making the ghosts around him jump.**

"**Why should you welcome me?" Jason growled. "Because I'm still running messages, you stupid wretches! I've just come from the House of Hades to see what you're up to!"**

**That last part was true, and it seemed to give Antinous pause. The ghoul glared at him, wine still dripping from the arrow shaft in his throat. "You expect me to believe Gaia sent you – a beggar – to check up on us?"**

**Jason laughed. "I was among the last to leave Epirus before the Doors of Death were closed! I saw the chamber where Clytius stood guard under a domed ceiling tiled with tombstones. I walked the jewel-and-bone floors of the Necromanteion!"**

**That was also true. Around the table, ghosts shifted and muttered.**

"**So, Antinous …" Jason jabbed a finger at the ghoul. "Maybe you should explain to me why you're worthy of Gaia's favour. All I see is a crowd of lazy, dawdling dead folk enjoying themselves and not helping the war effort. What should I tell the Earth Mother?"**

**From the corner of his eye, Jason saw Piper flash him an approving smile. Then she returned her attention to a glowing purple Greek dude who was trying to make her sit on his lap.**

"He was such a perv," she said.

**Antinous wrapped his hand around the steak knife Jason had impaled in the table. He pulled it free and studied the blade. "If you come from Gaia, you must know we are here under orders. Porphyrion decreed it." Antinous ran the knife blade across his palm. Instead of blood, dry dirt spilled from the cut. "You do know Porphyrion … ?"**

**Jason struggled to keep his nausea under control. He remembered Porphyrion just fine from their battle at the Wolf House.**

"You fought the giant king already?" said a surprised Zeus. "Wow."

**"The giant king – green skin, forty feet tall, white eyes, hair braided with weapons. Of course I know him. He's a lot more impressive than you."**

**He decided not to mention that the last time he'd seen the giant king, Jason had blasted him in the head with lightning.**

Snickers from a few select campers.

**For once, Antinous looked speechless, but his bald ghost friend Eurymachus put an arm around Jason's shoulders.**

"**Now, now, friend!" Eurymachus smelled like sour wine and burning electrical wires. His ghostly touch made Jason's ribcage tingle. "I'm sure we didn't mean to question your credentials! It's just, well, if you've spoken with Porphyrion in Athens, you know why we're here. I assure you, we're doing exactly as he ordered!"**

"Haha!" exclaimed Athena. "Told you my city would be important!"

"No one said it wasn't," deadpanned Annabeth.

**Jason tried to mask his surprise. Porphyrion in Athens.**

**Gaia had promised to pull up the gods by their roots. Chiron, Jason's mentor at Camp Half-Blood, had assumed that meant that the giants would try to rouse the earth goddess at the original Mount Olympus. But now…**

"**The Acropolis," Jason said. "The most ancient temples to the gods, in the middle of Athens. That's where Gaia will wake."**

"**Of course!" Eurymachus laughed. The wound in his chest made a popping sound, like a porpoise's blowhole. "And, to get there, those meddlesome demigods will have to travel by sea, eh? They know it's too dangerous to fly over land."**

"**Which means they'll have to pass this island," Jason said.**

**Eurymachus nodded eagerly. He removed his arm from Jason's shoulders and dipped his finger in his wineglass. "At that point, they'll have to make a choice, eh?"**

**On the tabletop, he traced a coastline, red wine glowing unnaturally against the wood. He drew Greece like a mis-shapen hourglass – a large dangly blob for the northern mainland, then another blob below it, almost as large – the big chunk of land known as the Peloponnese. Cutting between them was a narrow line of sea – the Straits of Corinth.**

**Jason hardly needed a picture. He and the rest of the crew had spent the last day at sea studying maps.**

"**The most direct route," Eurymachus said, "would be due east from here, across the Straits of Corinth. But if they try to go that way –"**

"Oh yes please, continue talking, reveal all your plans thankyouverymuch," said Leo.

"**Enough," Antinous snapped. "You have a loose tongue, Eurymachus."**

**The ghost looked offended. "I wasn't going to tell him everything! Just about the Cyclopes armies massed on either shore. And the raging storm spirits in the air. And those vicious sea monsters Keto sent to infest the waters. And of course if the ship got as far as Delphi –"**

"That's not very smart of him," said Hazel. "But it's great for us."

"**Idiot!" Antinous lunged across the table and grabbed the ghost's wrist. A thin crust of dirt spread from the ghoul's hand, straight up Eurymachus's spectral arm.**

"**No!" Eurymachus yelped. "Please! I – I only meant –"**

**The ghost screamed as the dirt covered his body like a shell, then cracked apart, leaving nothing but a pile of dust. Eurymachus was gone.**

"Oh no," said Frank.

"StOp!" exclaimed everybody.

"But it is rather worrying - what could he do to a person?" questioned Annabeth.

**Antinous sat back and brushed off his hands. The other suitors at the table watched him in wary silence.**

"**Apologies, Iros." The ghoul smiled coldly. "All you need to know is this – the ways to Athens are well guarded, just as we promised. The demigods would either have to risk the straits, which are impossible, or sail around the entire Peloponnese, which is hardly much safer. In any event, it's unlikely they will survive long enough to make that choice. Once they reach Ithaca, we will know.**

"No they don't," snorted Piper and Leo.

**We will stop them here and Gaia will see how valuable we are. You can take that message back to Athens."**

**Jason's heart hammered against his sternum. He'd never seen anything like the shell of earth that Antinous had summoned to destroy Eurymachus. He didn't want to find out if that power worked on demigods.**

**Also, Antinous sounded confident that he could detect the Argo II. Hazel's magic seemed to be obscuring the ship so far, but there was no telling how long that would last.**

**Jason had the intel they'd come for. Their goal was Athens. The safer route, or at least the not impossible route, was around the southern coast. Today was 20 July. They only had twelve days before Gaia planned to wake, on 1 August, the ancient Feast of Hope.**

**Jason and his friends needed to leave while they had the chance.**

**But something else bothered him – a cold sense of foreboding, as if he hadn't heard the worst news yet.**

**Eurymachus had mentioned Delphi. Jason had secretly hoped to visit the ancient site of Apollo's Oracle, maybe get some insight into his personal future, but if the place had been overrun by monsters …**

**He pushed aside his plate of cold food. "Sounds like everything is under control. For your sake, Antinous, I hope so. These demigods are resourceful. They closed the Doors of Death. We wouldn't want them sneaking past you, perhaps getting help from Delphi."**

**Antinous chuckled. "No risk of that. Delphi is no longer in Apollo's control."**

"How could that be? Nothing could be a match for me, the wondrous god Apollo…" he mused. Suddenly, his face turned white as a sheet. "Python," he whispered.

"**I – I see. And if the demigods sail the long way around the Peloponnese?"**

"**You worry too much. That journey is never safe for demigods, and it's much too far. Besides, Victory runs rampant in Olympia.**

"What does that mean?" asked Reyna.

**As long as that's the case, there is no way the demigods can win this war."**

"Haha we did anyway," laughed Leo.

**Jason didn't understand what that meant either, but he nodded. "Very well. I will report as much to King Porphyrion. Thank you for the, er, meal."**

**Over at the fountain, Michael Varus called, "Wait."**

"Oh no," said Frank, dodging the slap heading his way from those nearest him.

**Jason bit back a curse. He'd been trying to ignore the dead praetor, but now Varus walked over, surrounded in a hazy white aura, his deep-set eyes like sinkholes. At his side hung an Imperial gold gladius.**

"**You must stay," Varus said.**

**Antinous shot the ghost an irritated look. "What's the problem, legionnaire? If Iros wants to leave, let him. He smells bad!"**

**The other ghosts laughed nervously. Across the courtyard, Piper shot Jason a worried glance. A little further away, Annabeth casually palmed a carving knife from the nearest platter of meat.**

**Varus rested his hand on the pommel of his sword. Despite the heat, his breastplate was glazed with ice. "I lost my cohort twice in Alaska – once in life, once in death to a Graecus named Percy Jackson. Still I have come here to answer Gaia's call. Do you know why?"**

**Jason swallowed. "Stubbornness?"**

"**This is a place of longing," Varus said. "All of us are drawn here, sustained not only by Gaia's power but also by our strongest desires. Eurymachus's greed. Antinous's cruelty."**

"**You flatter me," the ghoul muttered.**

"**Hasdrubal's hatred," Varus continued. "Hippias's bitterness. My ambition. And you, Iros. What has drawn you here? What does a beggar most desire? Perhaps a home?"**

**An uncomfortable tingle started at the base of Jason's skull – the same feeling he got when a huge electrical storm was about to break.**

"**I should be going," he said. "Messages to carry."**

**Michael Varus drew his sword. "My father is Janus, the god of two faces. I am used to seeing through masks and deceptions. Do you know, Iros, why we are so sure the demigods will not pass our island undetected?"**

"Oh this is really not good," muttered Hermes.

"He can _see_ you!" exclaimed a legionnaire.

"Cover. Blown."

**Jason silently ran through his repertoire of Latin cuss words. He tried to calculate how long it would take him to get out his emergency flare and fire it. Hopefully he could buy enough time for the girls to find shelter before this mob of dead guys slaughtered him.**

**He turned to Antinous. "Look, are you in charge here or not? Maybe you should muzzle your Roman."**

**The ghoul took a deep breath. The arrow rattled in his throat. "Ah, but this might be entertaining. Go on, Varus."**

**The dead praetor raised his sword. "Our desires reveal us. They show us for who we really are. Someone has come for you, Jason Grace."**

The audience was so tense that you couldn't cut it with a celestial bronze sword. It was just that tense.

**Behind Varus, the crowd parted. The shimmering ghost of a woman drifted forward, and Jason felt as if his bones were turning to dust.**

"**My dearest," said his mother's ghost. "You have come home."**

"Oh -" yelled Leo

Annabeth scolded, "Language!"

"Wait," wondered Apollo. "Why would his mother be his greatest desire? I know I love my mom a lot, but… I like other things too?"

"Well," said Thalia. She looked at Jason, asking permission to continue. Recieving a nod in response, she said, "Jason never knew our mom, really. Obviously, he wants to like, remember her, because most people don't want to forget their mom. He wants to see what she was like, but she sucked to _don't listen to her!_" The last part was directed at Jason, and was followed up by her slapping him upside the head.

"Well I want to know what happens next. Who wants to read?" said Leo.

"I will," grumbled Heracles. He took the book and opened to the next chapter, but was cut off by Ares whining, "I hope there's a fight in it. I want a fight!"

"Maybe," said Heracles. "Let's start."

"Jason III"


	4. Jason III

"Jason III," read Heracles.

**Somehow he knew her. He recognized her dress – a flowery green-and-red wraparound, like the skirt of a Christmas tree. He recognized the colourful plastic bangles on her wrists that had dug into his back when she hugged him goodbye at the Wolf House. He recognized her hair, an over-teased corona of dyed blonde curls and her scent of lemons and aerosol.**

Thalia and Jason grimaced at the description of their mother.

**Her eyes were blue like Jason's, but they gleamed with fractured light, like she'd just come out of a bunker after a nuclear war – hungrily searching for familiar details in a changed world.**

Reyna stiffened. The eyes and their hunger and fracturedness… it was so similar to her father's, long ago. Was Jason's mother a _mania_?  
"You okay?" questioned Nico.

"Yeah," she said. Maybe her theory wasn't true. She would just have to wait and see.

"**Dearest." She held out her arms.**

**Jason's vision tunnelled. The ghosts and ghouls no longer mattered.**

**His Mist disguise burned off. His posture straightened. His joints stopped aching. His walking stick turned back into an Imperial gold gladius.**

"Oof," muttered Leo. "Not good."

**The burning sensation didn't stop. He felt as if layers of his life were being seared away – his months at Camp Half-Blood, his years at Camp Jupiter, his training with Lupa the wolf goddess. He was a scared and vulnerable two-year-old again. Even the scar on his lip, from when he'd tried to eat a stapler as a toddler,**

"Haha, you tried to eat a stapler!" laughed Leo.

"It's not funny," Jason grumbled.

"Only trying to lighten the mood, wow, take a joke man."

**stung like a fresh wound.**

"**Mom?" he managed.**

"**Yes, dearest." Her image flickered. "Come, embrace me."**

'**You're – you're not real.'**

'**Of course she is real.' Michael Varus's voice sounded far away. 'Did you think Gaia would let such an important spirit languish in the Underworld? She is your mother, Beryl Grace, star of television**

"What is television," asked Athena. As the goddess of wisdom, it was her nature to know everything, even the technologies of the future.

"Well…" replied Annabeth, looking around to see if anyone else wanted to explain. After receiving no response, she continued, "It's sort of like a box in a person's house, where they watch plays and things like that. It's more complicated, but there is a lot of book to get through and I'll describe it later."

**, sweetheart to the king of Olympus, who rejected her not once but twice, in both his Greek and Roman aspects. She deserves justice as much as any of us.'**

**Jason's heart felt wobbly. The suitors crowded around him, watching.**

**I'm their entertainment, Jason realized. The ghosts probably found this even more amusing than two beggars fighting to the death.**

**Piper's voice cut through the buzzing in his head. 'Jason, look at me.'**

**She stood twenty feet away, holding her ceramic amphora. Her smile was gone. Her gaze was fierce and commanding – as impossible to ignore as the blue harpy feather in her hair. 'That isn't your mother. Her voice is working some kind of magic on you – like charmspeak, but more dangerous. Can't you sense it?'**

"No," grumbled Hera. "Zeus and his children have always been oblivious." This was followed by an exclamation of protest from the many children of Zeus in the room.

"_Continue,_ Heracles!" exclaimed Annabeth.

"No! Hera insulted me and _I do not back down from a fight! _Do you want to _go_, Hera?!"

With a mutter of how much of an idiot he was, Annabeth grabbed the book from his hands and loudly started reading over the chaos that was the throne room.

'**She's right.' Annabeth climbed onto the nearest table. She kicked aside a platter, startling a dozen suitors. 'Jason, that's only a remnant of your mother, like an ara, maybe, or –'**

'**A remnant!' His mother's ghost sobbed. 'Yes, look what I have been reduced to. It's Jupiter's fault. He abandoned us. He wouldn't help me! I didn't want to leave you in Sonoma, my dear, but Juno and Jupiter gave me no choice. They wouldn't allow us to stay together. Why fight for them now? Join these suitors. Lead them. We can be a family again!'**

"She's lying Jason," whispered Thalia so that only he could hear. "She never cared about anyone. Don't listen to her."

"I know now," he responded.

**Jason felt hundreds of eyes on him.**

**This has been the story of my life, he thought bitterly. Everyone had always watched him, expecting him to lead the way. From the moment he'd arrived at Camp Jupiter, the Roman demigods had treated him like a prince in waiting.**

"My liege," said Leo with an air of pompousness, complete with an exaggerated bow. "Do you require your shoes shined? Or maybe some hors d'oeuvres?"

"Shut up," Jason said.

"I'm actually proud he pronounced hors d'oeuvres correctly though. 10 out of 10, nice job Leo," said Piper, Annabeth nodding her head slightly in agreement.

"I will accept that as a compliment," Leo replied.

**Despite his attempts to alter his destiny – joining the worst cohort, trying to change the camp traditions, taking the least glamorous missions and befriending the least popular kids – he had been made praetor anyway. As a son of Jupiter, his future had been assured.**

**He remembered what Hercules had said to him at the Straits of Gibraltar: It's not easy being a son of Zeus. Too much pressure. Eventually, it can make a guy snap.**

**Now Jason was here, drawn as taut as a bowstring.**

'**You left me,' he told his mother. 'That wasn't Jupiter or Juno. That was you.'**

"I think we should make a list on who has the worst mortal parents. Smelly Gabe number one, then maybe Jason's mom, who else?" Percy asked.

"Let's not," deadpanned Reyna.

**Beryl Grace stepped forward. The worry lines around her eyes, the pained tightness in her mouth reminded Jason of his sister, Thalia.**

'**Dearest, I told you I would come back. Those were my last words to you. Don't you remember?'**

**Jason shivered. In the ruins of the Wolf House his mother had hugged him one last time. She had smiled, but her eyes were full of tears.**

**It's all right, she had promised. But even as a little kid Jason had known it wasn't all right. Wait here. I will be back for you, dearest. I will see you soon.**

**She hadn't come back. Instead, Jason had wandered the ruins, crying and alone, calling for his mother and for Thalia – until the wolves came for him.**

"Makes it sound like you're going to die in like some sort of horror movie," said a camper. "_And then the wolves came for him._"

"Actually yeah, if you show any weakness at all they eat you," responded a legionnaire.

"Are - are you guys okay?" the same camper said quietly after a moment of pause.

**His mother's unkept promise was at the core of who he was. He'd built his whole life around the irritation of her words, like the grain of sand at the centre of a pearl.**

**People lie. Promises are broken.**

**That was why, as much as it chafed him, Jason followed rules. He kept his promises. He never wanted to abandon anyone the way he'd been abandoned and lied to.**

"Mmm… I can think of a couple times where you lied and abandoned me…" said Dakota.

"When?"

"Well there was that one time when you said that you would go get Kool-Aid with me but then you didn't, and when I asked you said that you were at a last-minute senate meeting but really you were just getting ice cream." Dakota took another swig from his Kool-Aid canteen and then flashed a crazy grin at everyone.

"Oh my gods Jason" said Percy.

**Now his mom was back, erasing the one certainty Jason had about her – that she'd left him forever.**

**Across the table, Antinous raised his goblet. 'So pleased to meet you, son of Jupiter. Listen to your mother. You have many grievances against the gods. Why not join us? I gather these two serving girls are your friends? We will spare them. You wish to have your mother remain in the world? We can do that. You wish to be a king –'**

'**No.' Jason's mind was spinning. 'No, I don't belong with you.'**

"I don't know, Jason." said Leo. "I would kinda dig being a king."

**Michael Varus regarded him with cold eyes. 'Are you so sure, my fellow praetor? Even if you defeat the giants and Gaia, would you return home like Odysseus did? Where is your home now? With the Greeks? With the Romans? No one will accept you. And, if you get back, who's to say you won't find ruins like this?'**

**Jason scanned the palace courtyard. Without the illusory balconies and colonnades, there was nothing but a heap of rubble on a barren hilltop. Only the fountain seemed real, spewing forth sand like a reminder of Gaia's limitless power.**

'**You were a legion officer,' he told Varus. 'A leader of Rome.'**

'**So were you,' Varus said. 'Loyalties change.'**

'**You think I belong with this crowd?' Jason asked. 'A bunch of dead losers waiting for a free handout from Gaia, whining that the world owes them something?'**

**Around the courtyard, ghosts and ghouls rose to their feet and drew weapons.**

'**Beware!' Piper yelled at the crowd. 'Every man in this palace is your enemy. Each one will stab you in the back at the first chance!'**

**Over the last few weeks, Piper's charmspeak had become truly powerful.**

Aphrodite smiled proudly at her daughter.

**She spoke the truth, and the crowd believed her. They looked sideways at one another, hands clenching the hilts of their swords.**

**Jason's mother stepped towards him. 'Dearest, be sensible. Give up your quest. Your Argo II could never make the trip to Athens. Even if it did, there's the matter of the Athena Parthenos.'**

**A tremor passed through him. 'What do you mean?'**

'**Don't feign ignorance, my dearest. Gaia knows about your friend Reyna and Nico the son of Hades and the satyr Hedge. To kill them, the Earth Mother has sent her most dangerous son – the hunter who never rests.**

Artemis gasped.

"Is it… is it who I think it is? You know, _him_?" she said shakily.

"Yes," said Nico. "It is him."

"Okay hold up," Percy said. "You know, the rest of us don't know who you guys are talking about, mind filling us in?"

"Sorry, spoilers," responded Nico with a grin.

**But you don't have to die.'**

**The ghouls and ghosts closed in – two hundred of them facing Jason in anticipation, as if he might lead them in the national anthem.**

**The hunter who never rests.**

**Jason didn't know who that was, but he had to warn Reyna and Nico.**

**Which meant he had to get out of here alive.**

**He looked at Annabeth and Piper. Both stood ready, waiting for his cue.**

**He forced himself to meet his mother's eyes. She looked like the same woman who'd abandoned him in the Sonoma woods fourteen years ago. But Jason wasn't a toddler any more. He was a battle veteran, a demigod who'd faced death countless times.**

**And what he saw in front of him wasn't his mother – at least, not what his mother should be – caring, loving, selflessly protective.**

**A remnant, Annabeth had called her.**

**Michael Varus had told him that the spirits here were sustained by their strongest desires. The spirit of Beryl Grace literally glowed with need.**

Reyna's theory was getting more truer with every word read, but as it was proven she felt a heavy sinking feeling. _Mania_s were terrible. Jason didn't deserve this.

**Her eyes demanded Jason's attention. Her arms reached out, desperate to possess him.**

'**What do you want?' he asked. 'What brought you here?'**

'**I want life!' she cried. 'Youth! Beauty! Your father could have made me immortal. He could have taken me to Olympus, but he abandoned me. You can set things right, Jason. You are my proud warrior!'**

**Her lemony scent turned acrid, as if she were starting to burn.**

"Ew I hate the smell of burning lemons," said Connor Stoll, confusing everyone on how he knew what a burning lemon smelled like.

**Jason remembered something Thalia had told him. Their mother had become increasingly unstable, until her despair had driven her crazy. She had died in a car accident, the result of her driving while drunk.**

Athena would have asked what a car was, but the somber mood in the room made her feel that it wasn't the time.

**The watered wine in Jason's stomach churned. He decided that if he lived through this day he would never drink alcohol again.**

'**You're a mania,'**

"I knew it," whispered Reyna, quiet enough so that she only got confused looks from those immediately surrounding her."

**Jason decided, the word coming to him from his studies at Camp Jupiter long ago. 'A spirit of insanity. That's what you've been reduced to.'**

'**I am all that remains,' Beryl Grace agreed. Her image flickered through a spectrum of colours. 'Embrace me, son. I am all you have left.'**

**The memory of the South Wind spoke in his mind: You can't choose your parentage. But you can choose your legacy.**

"True," said Hazel. She thought about her parents, how her mom wasn't that great and her father was feared by most, and yet she had good friends and a sweet boyfriend and a brother. Her life was okay, despite the fact that her parents were not the best.

**Jason felt like he was being reassembled, one layer at a time. His heartbeat steadied. The chill left his bones. His skin warmed in the afternoon sun.**

'**No,' he croaked. He glanced at Annabeth and Piper. 'My loyalties haven't changed. My family has just expanded. I'm a child of Greece and Rome.' He looked back at his mother for the last time. 'I'm no child of yours.'**

**He made the ancient sign of warding off evil – three fingers thrust out from the heart**

"You know, no one ever told me that it was an ancient sign," said Percy. "I just thought it was like this cool thing you did if you had this annoying evil thing and you wanted it gone." Everyone stared at him, shocked. Here was their finest hero, saying he had no idea about the ancient symbol all of them knew, that he thought it was just a neat trick.

Annabeth laughed. "I forgot how little you knew when you found out you were a demigod." She kissed his cheek.

– **and the ghost of Beryl Grace disappeared with a soft hiss, like a sigh of relief.**

**The ghoul Antinous tossed aside his goblet. He studied Jason with a look of lazy disgust. 'Well, then,' he said, 'I suppose we'll just kill you.'**

**All around Jason, the enemies closed in.**

"Yes!" yelled Ares. "A fight!"

"Who wants to read next?" said Annabeth.

"I do!" Ares exclaimed. "Blood and death and war _yesthisismychapter!"_ Slightly disgusted by the god of war's actions, Annabeth handed the book over to him, and he opened to the next chapter.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" snarked Athena. "I mean, it might be above your reading level."

"I got this! Jason IV!"


	5. Jason IV

"Jason IV," Ares read.

**The fight was going great – until he got stabbed.**

"Oh yeah that'll really put a damper on a situation," joked Leo.

**Jason slashed his gladius in a wide arc, vaporizing the nearest suitors, then he vaulted onto the table and jumped right over Antinous's head. In midair he willed his blade to extend into a javelin – a trick he'd never tried with this sword – but somehow he knew it would work.**

"When I was a hero we did things the old-fashioned way, carrying all our weaponry to our battles uphill _both ways._ You new heroes are just lazy with your magic swords," griped Heracles.

**He landed on his feet holding a six-foot-long pilum. As Antinous turned to face him, Jason thrust the Imperial gold point through the ghoul's chest.**

**Antinous looked down incredulously. "You –"**

**"Enjoy the Fields of Punishment." Jason yanked out his pilum and Antinous crumbled to dirt.**

**Jason kept fighting, spinning his javelin – slicing through ghosts, knocking ghouls off their feet.**

"Ooh!" exclaimed Ares. "I'm getting chills, I just _love _a good fight. Tell me, boy, how many did you disembowel? Behead? Stab-"

"You know I really didn't keep track," interjected Jason, his face slightly green. "Let's continue, shall we?"

**Across the courtyard, Annabeth fought like a demon, too. Her drakon-bone sword scythed down any suitors stupid enough to face her.**

Percy rested his chin on Annabeth's shoulder, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug from behind.

"Nice job," he said.

**Over by the sand fountain, Piper had also drawn her sword – the jagged bronze blade she'd taken from Zethes the Boread. She stabbed and parried with her right hand, occasionally shooting tomatoes from the cornucopia in her left, while yelling at the suitors, "Save yourselves! I'm too dangerous!"**

**That must have been exactly what they wanted to hear, because her opponents kept running away, only to freeze in confusion a few yards downhill, then charge back into the fight.**

"Oh, those suitors were cowards!" Hera yelled. "Trying to break up a good marriage!"

"That, and Piper's scary," grinned Jason down at her. Leo leaned across Jason's lap to give her a high five.

**The Greek tyrant Hippias lunged at Piper, his dagger raised, but Piper blasted him point-blank in the chest with a lovely pot roast. He tumbled backwards into the fountain and screamed as he disintegrated.**

**An arrow whistled towards Jason's face. He blew it aside with a gust of wind, then cut through a line of sword-wielding ghouls and noticed a dozen suitors regrouping by the fountain to charge Annabeth. He lifted his javelin to the sky. A bolt of lightning ricocheted off the point and blasted the ghosts to ions, leaving a smoking crater where the sand fountain had been.**

"Powers too!" exclaimed Theseus. "Back in my day-"

"We don't _care_!" yelled back many future demigods.

**Over the last few months, Jason had fought many battles, but he'd forgotten what it was like to feel good in combat.**

"Wow Jason, self-centered much?" teased Bobby.

**Of course he was still afraid, but a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. For the first time since waking up in Arizona with his memories erased, Jason felt whole. He knew who he was. He had chosen his family, and it had nothing to do with Beryl Grace or even Jupiter. His family included all the demigods who fought at his side, Roman and Greek, new friends and old. He wasn't going to let anyone break his family apart.**

"Jason is the ultimate mom friend!" yelled Leo.

"Mom friend Jason!" chorused the Stolls.

"He puts all mom friends to shame!"

"He even has his own theme song!"

Together, the three sang, "Jaaaason, Jason Jason Jason, Jason the mom friend, Jasonthemomfriend!"

"Oh my _gods_" said literally everyone, including the gods who had no idea what a mom friend was.

**He summoned the winds and flung three ghouls off the side of the hill like rag dolls. He skewered a fourth, then willed his javelin to shrink back to a sword and hacked through another group of spirits.**

**Soon no more enemies faced him. The remaining ghosts began to disappear on their own. Annabeth cut down Hasdrubal the Carthaginian, and Jason made the mistake of sheathing his sword.**

"Wow Jase, that's Roman training 101, disappointed in you…" said Gwen.

**Pain flared in his lower back – so sharp and cold he thought Khione the snow goddess had touched him.**

"Oh no," said Frank.

**Next to his ear, Michael Varus snarled, "Born a Roman, die a Roman."**

"_How _could he forget about _Michael Varus_," whispered a legionnaire to their friend.

**The tip of a golden sword jutted through the front of Jason's shirt, just below his ribcage.**

"Oh no," said Frank, this time joined by almost everyone.

**Jason fell to his knees. Piper's scream sounded miles away. He felt like he'd been immersed in salty water – his body weightless, his head swaying.**

**Piper charged towards him. He watched with detached emotion as her sword passed over his head and cut through Michael Varus's armour with a metallic ka-chunk.**

The room was too tense on Jason's potential death to comment on the fact that she shouldn't be able to cut through a person/ghost/anyone's armor.

**A burst of cold parted Jason's hair from behind. Dust settled around him, and an empty legionnaire's helmet rolled across the stones. The evil demigod was gone – but he had made a lasting impression.**

**"Jason!" Piper grabbed his shoulders as he began to fall sideways. He gasped as she pulled the sword out of his back. Then she lowered him to the ground, propping his head against a stone.**

**Annabeth ran to their side. She had a nasty cut on the side of her neck.**

**"Gods." Annabeth stared at the wound in Jason's gut. "Oh, gods."**

**"Thanks," Jason groaned. "I was afraid it might be bad."**

"Not the time for sarcasm," muttered Hazel.

**His arms and legs started to tingle as his body went into crisis mode, sending all the blood to his chest. The pain was dull, which surprised him, but his shirt was soaked red. The wound was smoking. He was pretty sure sword wounds weren't supposed to smoke.**

"It's an effect of the - imperial gold was it? I assume it's godly, and any wound by a godly metal to a demigod is not good. Smoke is within that range," clarified Apollo.

**"You're going to be fine." Piper spoke the words like an order. Her tone steadied his breathing. "Annabeth, ambrosia!"**

**Annabeth stirred. "Yeah. Yeah, I got it." She ripped through her supply pouch and unwrapped a piece of godly food.**

**"We have to stop the bleeding." Piper used her dagger to cut fabric from the bottom of her dress. She ripped the cloth into bandages.**

**Jason dimly wondered how she knew so much first aid. She wrapped the wounds on his back and stomach while Annabeth pushed tiny bites of ambrosia into his mouth.**

**Annabeth's fingers trembled. After all the things she'd been through, Jason found it odd that she would freak out now while Piper acted so calm.**

"That's kinda weird."

"It answers later, be quiet."

**Then it occurred to him – Annabeth could afford to be scared for him. Piper couldn't. She was completely focused on trying to save him.**

"Oh."

**Annabeth fed him another bite. "Jason, I – I'm sorry. About your mom. But the way you handled it … that was so brave."**

**Jason tried not to close his eyes. Every time he did, he saw his mom's spirit disintegrating.**

Reyna looked down. She had used to feel the same way - all she saw at night was her father, and her sword through his chest. But she had recovered, a little bit, and she wished she could offer condolences to Jason, wished she could tell her oldest friend that it would get better, but she couldn't.

**"It wasn't her," he said. "At least, no part of her I could save. There was no other choice."**

**Annabeth took a shaky breath. "No other right choice, maybe, but … a friend of mine, Luke. His mom … similar problem. He didn't handle it as well."**

**Her voice broke. Jason didn't know much about Annabeth's past, but Piper glanced over in concern.**

**"I've bandaged as much as I can," she said. "Blood is still soaking through. And the smoke. I don't get that."**

**"Imperial gold," Annabeth said, her voice quavering. "It's deadly to demigods. It's only a matter of time before –"**

"See!" yelled Apollo. "I was right!"

"No one said you weren't," mumbled Artemis.

**"He'll be all right," Piper insisted. "We've got to get him back to the ship."**

**"I don't feel that bad," Jason said. And it was true. The ambrosia had cleared his head. Warmth was seeping back into his limbs. "Maybe I could fly …"**

**Jason sat up. His vision turned a pale shade of green. "Or maybe not …"**

**Piper caught his shoulders as he keeled sideways. "Whoa, Sparky. We need to contact the Argo II, get help."**

**"You haven't called me Sparky in a long time."**

**Piper kissed his forehead. "Stick with me and I'll insult you all you want."**

"Oh my me this is so _cute_!" gushed Aphrodite.

**Annabeth scanned the ruins. The magic veneer had faded, leaving only broken walls and excavation pits. "We could use the emergency flares, but –"**

**"No," Jason said. "Leo would blast the top of the hill with Greek fire. Maybe, if you guys helped me, I could walk –"**

**"Absolutely not," Piper objected. "That would take too long." She rummaged in her belt pouch and pulled out a compact mirror. "Annabeth, you know Morse code?"**

**"Of course."**

**"So does Leo." Piper handed her the mirror. "He'll be watching from the ship. Go to the ridge –"**

**"And flash him!"**

Snickers from the group.

"Well, Annabeth, if I knew you felt that way…" teased Leo.

"Shut up," she said, and slapped him.

**Annabeth's face reddened. "That came out wrong. But, yeah, good idea."**

**She ran to the edge of the ruins.**

**Piper pulled out a flask of nectar and gave Jason a sip. "Hang in there. You are not dying from a stupid body piercing."**

**Jason managed a weak smile. "At least it wasn't a head injury this time. I stayed conscious the entire fight."**

**"You defeated, like, two hundred enemies," Piper said. "You were scary amazing."**

**"You guys helped."**

**"Maybe, but … Hey, stay with me."**

**Jason's head started to droop. The cracks in the stones came into sharper focus.**

**"Little dizzy," he muttered.**

**"More nectar," Piper ordered. "There. Taste okay?"**

**"Yeah. Yeah, fine."**

**In fact the nectar tasted like liquid sawdust, but Jason kept that to himself. Ever since the House of Hades when he'd resigned his praetorship, ambrosia and nectar didn't taste like his favourite foods from Camp Jupiter. It was as if the memory of his old home no longer had the power to heal him.**

**Born a Roman, die a Roman, Michael Varus had said.**

**He looked at the smoke curling from his bandages. He had worse things to worry about than blood loss. Annabeth was right about Imperial gold. The stuff was deadly to demigods as well as monsters. The wound from Varus's blade would do its best to eat away at Jason's life force.**

**He'd seen a demigod die like that once before. It hadn't been fast or pretty.**

**I can't die, he told himself. My friends are depending on me.**

**Antinous's words rang in his ears – about the giants in Athens, the impossible trip facing the Argo II, the mysterious hunter Gaia had sent to intercept the Athena Parthenos.**

**"Reyna, Nico and Coach Hedge," he said. "They're in danger. We need to warn them."**

**"We'll take care of it when we get back to the ship," Piper promised. "Your job right now is to relax." Her tone was light and confident, but her eyes brimmed with tears. "Besides, those three are a tough group. They'll be fine."**

"Don't underestimate _me_, Grace," boasted Coach Hedge. "I can slice and dice better than anyone here!"

"Okay, Coach," Jason said.

**Jason hoped she was right. Reyna had risked so much to help them. Coach Hedge was annoying sometimes, but he'd been a loyal protector for the entire crew. And Nico … Jason felt especially worried about him.**

"Oh here we go," muttered Nico.

**Piper brushed her thumb against the scar on his lip. "Once the war is over … everything will work out for Nico. You've done what you could, being a friend to him."**

**Jason wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't told Piper anything about his conversations with Nico. He'd kept di Angelo's secret.**

**Still … Piper seemed to sense what was wrong. As a daughter of Aphrodite, maybe she could tell when somebody was struggling with heartache. She hadn't pressured Jason to talk about it, though. He appreciated that.**

**Another wave of pain made him wince.**

**"Concentrate on my voice." Piper kissed his forehead. "Think about something good. Birthday cake in the park in Rome –"**

**"That was nice."**

**"Last winter," she suggested. "The s'mores fight at the campfire."**

**"I totally got you."**

**"You had marshmallows in your hair for days!"**

**"I did not."**

"Kinda did," Piper said.

"Did not!"

**Jason's mind drifted back to better times.**

**He just wanted to stay there – talking with Piper, holding her hand, not worrying about giants or Gaia or his mother's madness.**

Aphrodite squeaked again, and exclaimed something about how cute the two of them were, but it was too fast for anyone to really understand what she was saying.

**He knew they should get back to the ship. He was in bad shape. They had the information they'd come for. But as he lay there on the cool stones, Jason felt a sense of incompleteness. The story of the suitors and Queen Penelope … his thoughts about family … his recent dreams. Those things all swirled around in his head. There was something more to this place – something he'd missed.**

**Annabeth came back limping from the edge of the hill.**

**"Are you hurt?" Jason asked her.**

**Annabeth glanced at her ankle. "It's fine. Just the old break from the Roman caverns. Sometimes when I'm stressed … That's not important. I signalled Leo. Frank's going to change form, fly up here and carry you back to the ship. I need to make a litter to keep you stable."**

**Jason had a terrifying image of himself in a hammock, swinging between the claws of Frank the giant eagle, but he decided it would be better than dying.**

"Don't worry, Jason. I wouldn't drop you," Frank reassured.

**Annabeth set to work. She collected scraps left behind by the suitors – a leather belt, a torn tunic, sandal straps, a red blanket and a couple of broken spear shafts. Her hands flew across the materials – ripping, weaving, tying, braiding.**

**"How are you doing that?" Jason asked in amazement.**

**"Learned it during my quest under Rome." Annabeth kept her eyes on her work. "I'd never had a reason to try weaving before, but it's handy for certain things, like getting away from spiders …"**

Athena and all her children shuddered.

**She tied off one last bit of leather cord and voilà – a stretcher large enough for Jason, with spear shafts as carrying handles and safety straps across the middle.**

**Piper whistled appreciatively. "The next time I need a dress altered, I'm coming to you."**

"Like you would ever wear a dress, Dumpster Queen," Drew said.

"Shut up Drew," Piper replied.

**"Shut up, McLean,"**

Laughter.

**Annabeth said, but her eyes glinted with satisfaction. "Now, let's get him secured –"**

**"Wait," Jason said.**

**His heart pounded. Watching Annabeth weave the makeshift bed, Jason had remembered the story of Penelope – how she'd held out for twenty years, waiting for her husband Odysseus to return.**

**"A bed," Jason said. "There was a special bed in this palace."**

**Piper looked worried. "Jason, you've lost a lot of blood."**

**"I'm not hallucinating," he insisted. "The marriage bed was sacred. If there was any place you could talk to Juno …"**

Annabeth said, "I still don't get why you wanted to talk to _her_."

**He took a deep breath and called, "Juno!"**

**Silence.**

**Maybe Piper was right. He wasn't thinking clearly.**

**Then, about sixty feet away, the stone floor cracked. Branches muscled through the earth, growing in fast motion until a full-sized olive tree shaded the courtyard. Under a canopy of grey-green leaves stood a dark-haired woman in a white dress, a leopard-skin cape draped over her shoulders. Her staff was topped with a white lotus flower. Her expression was cool and regal.**

**"My heroes," said the goddess.**

**"Hera," Piper said.**

**"Juno," Jason corrected.**

**"Whatever," Annabeth grumbled. "What are you doing here, Your Bovine Majesty?"**

Someone snorted. "Bovine Majesty."

**Juno's dark eyes glittered dangerously. "Annabeth Chase. As charming as ever."**

**"Yeah, well," Annabeth said, "I just got back from Tartarus, so my manners are a little rusty, especially towards goddesses who wiped my boyfriend's memory, made him disappear for months and then –"**

**"Honestly, child. Are we going to rehash this again?"**

"Whoa wait," said Hera. "Why are you not respecting me!"

The future demigods looked around. Nobody really wanted to incur the wrath of the gods by saying something wrong. Eventually Annabeth sighed and said, "In the future, no one really worships you anymore, so like all you are to us are parents, who are not good at parenting anyway. We never see you, and then when we do you guys are jerks, so like why _should_ we respect you…"

The gods all erupted in an uproar, not so mad about the way Annabeth had talked about them, but more by the fact that they were not worshipped anymore. Zeus was muttering something about, "those monotheists," and how he, "bet it was them." Eventually order was regained and Ares reluctantly began reading again.

**"Aren't you supposed to be suffering from split-personality disorder?" Annabeth asked. "I mean – more so than usual?"**

**"Whoa," Jason interceded. He had plenty of reasons to hate Juno, but they had other issues to deal with. "Juno, we need your help. We –" Jason tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. His insides felt like they were being twirled on a giant spaghetti fork.**

**Piper kept him from falling over. "First things first," she said. "Jason is hurt. Heal him!"**

Hera muttered quietly, "That's not how it works." Either that or, "Pastrami Force," but the former seems more likely.

**The goddess knitted her eyebrows. Her form shimmered unsteadily.**

**"Some things even the gods cannot heal," she said. "This wound touches your soul as well as your body. You must fight it, Jason Grace … you must survive."**

**"Yeah, thanks," he said, his mouth dry. "I'm trying."**

Scattered laughter sounded from the group.

**"What do you mean, the wound touches his soul?" Piper demanded. "Why can't you –"**

"**My heroes, our time together is short," Juno said. "I am grateful that you called upon me. I have spent weeks in a state of pain and confusion … my Greek and Roman natures warring against each other. Worse, I've been forced to hide from Jupiter, who searches for me in his misguided wrath, believing that I caused this war with Gaia."**

"**Gee," Annabeth said, "why would he think that?"**

More laughter.

**Juno flashed her an irritated look. "Fortunately, this place is sacred to me. By clearing away those ghosts, you have purified it and given me a moment of clarity. I will be able to speak with you – if only briefly."**

"**Why is it sacred … ?" Piper's eyes widened. "Oh. The marriage bed!"**

"**Marriage bed?" Annabeth asked. "I don't see any –"**

"The bed of Penelope and Odysseus!" yelled Percy. "YES! I know something Annabeth doesn't!"

"Ohmyeverloving_gods_ just _what_ has the world come to! Percy knows something Annabeth doesn't!" gasped Nico.

"I am smart you know," defended Percy.

"Arguably," Annabeth replied, patting Percy's cheek as he gasped in exaggerated shock.

"**The bed of Penelope and Odysseus," Piper explained. "One of its bedposts was a living olive tree, so it could never be moved."**

"**Indeed." Juno ran her hand along the olive tree's trunk. "An immovable marriage bed. Such a beautiful symbol! Like Penelope, the most faithful wife, standing her ground, fending off a hundred arrogant suitors for years because she knew her husband would return. Odysseus and Penelope – the epitome of a perfect marriage!"**

**Even in his dazed state, Jason was pretty sure he remembered stories about Odysseus falling for other women during his travels, but he decided not to bring that up.**

Laughter.

"**Can you advise us, at least?" he asked. "Tell us what to do?"**

"**Sail around the Peloponnese," said the goddess. "As you suspect, that is the only possible route. On your way, seek out the goddess of victory in Olympia. She is out of control. Unless you can subdue her, the rift between Greek and Roman can never be healed."**

"**You mean Nike?" Annabeth asked. "How is she out of control?"**

**Thunder boomed overhead, shaking the hill.**

"**Explaining would take too long," Juno said. "I must flee before Jupiter finds me. Once I leave, I will not be able to help you again."**

**Jason bit back a retort: When did you help me the first time?**

Leo laughed, "Wow Jason, you're really on a roll here!"

"**What else should we know?" he asked.**

"**As you heard, the giants have gathered in Athens. Few gods will be able to help you on your journey, but I am not the only Olympian who is out of favour with Jupiter. The twins have also incurred his wrath."**

"Oh no!" exclaimed Apollo. "But I'm his favorite son!" All the other children of Zeus cast dark looks at him, to which he was completely oblivious to.

"**Artemis and Apollo?" Piper asked. "Why?"**

**Juno's image began to fade. "If you reach the island of Delos, they might be prepared to help you. They are desperate enough to try anything to make amends.**

"I have to agree, this is not sounding good," reasoned Artemis.

**Go now. Perhaps we will meet again in Athens, if you succeed. If you do not …"**

**The goddess disappeared, or maybe Jason's eyesight simply failed. Pain rolled through him. His head lolled back. He saw a giant eagle circling high above. Then the blue sky turned black, and Jason saw nothing at all.**

"Oof!" yelled Leo, startling a few campers. "Who wants to read next?"

"I will, said Hermes. He took the book and read, "Reyna V."

"Oh thank gods it's in someone else's point of view," Thalia said.

"Excuse me! I thought you were my sister and loved me!" gasped Jason.

"I am and I do," she said, "but I want to hear from other people and Reyna is cool." Before Jason could launch into a tirade about how his family _betrayed_ him, Hermes hurriedly interrupted and read again, "REYNA V!"


	6. Reyna V

Hermes cleared his throat. "Reyna V"

**DIVE-BOMBING A VOLCANO was not on Reyna's bucket list.**

Annabeth snorted. "Is it on anyone's?"

**Her first view of southern Italy was from five thousand feet in the air. To the west, along the crescent of the Gulf of Naples, the lights of sleeping cities glittered in the predawn gloom. A thousand feet below her, a half-mile-wide caldera yawned at the top of a mountain, white steam pluming from the centre.**

"Oof. That is not cool," noted Percy

**Reyna's disorientation took a moment to subside. Shadow-travel left her groggy and nauseous, as if she'd been dragged from the cold waters of the frigidarium into the sauna at a Roman bathhouse.**

All of the romans demigods winced.

**Then she realized she was suspended in midair. Gravity took hold, and she began to fall.**

'**Nico!' she yelled.**

'**Pan's pipes!' cursed Gleeson Hedge.**

'**Whaaaaa!' Nico flailed, almost slipping out of Reyna's grip. She held tight and grabbed Coach Hedge by the shirt collar as he started to tumble away. If they got separated now, they were dead.**

More people grimaced in nervousness.

**They plummeted towards the volcano as their largest piece of luggage – the forty-foot-tall Athena Parthenos – trailed after them, leashed to a harness on Nico's back like a very ineffective parachute.**

"That's not goood…" muttered Will.

'**That's Vesuvius below us!' Reyna shouted over the wind. 'Nico, teleport us out of here!'**

**His eyes were wild and unfocused. His dark feathery hair whipped around his face like a raven shot out of the sky. 'I – I can't! No strength!'**

**Coach Hedge bleated. 'News flash, kid! Goats can't fly! Zap us out of here or we're gonna get flattened into an Athena Parthenos omelette!'**

**Reyna tried to think. She could accept death if she had to, but if the Athena Parthenos was destroyed their quest would fail. Reyna could not accept that.**

The Romans (and a few Greeks too) marveled at their praetor's strength.

'**Nico, shadow-travel,' she ordered. 'I'll lend you my strength.'**

"How?" asked a roman. "I don't remember you having any powers…"

**He stared at her blankly. 'How –'**

'**Do it!'**

**She tightened her grip on his hand. The torch-and-sword symbol of Bellona on her forearm grew painfully hot, as if it were being seared into her skin for the first time.**

"ow."

**Nico gasped. Colour returned to his face. Just before they hit the volcano's steam plume, they slipped into shadows.**

**The air turned frigid. The sound of the wind was replaced by a cacophony of voices whispering in a thousand languages. Reyna's insides felt like a giant piragua – cold syrup trickled over crushed ice – her favourite treat from her childhood in Viejo San Juan.**

"You're from Puerto Rico!" yelled Leo. "We can speak Spanish together!"

"No," snapped Reyna.

**She wondered why that memory would surface now, when she was on the verge of death.**

Hermes raised an eyebrow.

**Then her vision cleared. Her feet rested on solid ground.**

**The eastern sky had begun to lighten. For a moment Reyna thought she was back in New Rome. Doric columns lined an atrium the size of a baseball diamond. In front of her, a bronze faun stood in the middle of a sunken fountain decorated with mosaic tile.**

**Crepe myrtles and rosebushes bloomed in a nearby garden. Palm trees and pines stretched skyward. Cobblestone paths led from the courtyard in several directions – straight, level roads of good Roman construction, edging low stone houses with colonnaded porches.**

**Reyna turned. Behind her, the Athena Parthenos stood intact and upright, dominating the courtyard like a ridiculously oversized lawn ornament. The little bronze faun in the fountain had both his arms raised, facing Athena, so he seemed to be cowering in fear of the new arrival.**

**On the horizon, Mount Vesuvius loomed – a dark, humpbacked shape now several miles away. Thick pillars of steam curled from the crest.**

'**We're in Pompeii,' Reyna realized.**

'**Oh, that's not good,' Nico said, and he immediately collapsed.**

**Whoa!' Coach Hedge caught him before he hit the ground. The satyr propped him against Athena's feet and loosened the harness that attached Nico to the statue.**

**Reyna's own knees buckled. She'd expected some backlash; it happened every time she shared her strength. But she hadn't anticipated so much raw anguish from Nico di Angelo.**

"Nico…" said Percy sadly.

"Please continue reading," Nico replied angrily.

**She sat down heavily, just managing to stay conscious.**

**Gods of Rome. If this was only a portion of Nico's pain … how could he bear it?**

Numerous sympathetic looks were cast towards Nico, who stiffened under the uncomfortable gazes.

**She tried to steady her breathing while Coach Hedge rummaged through his camping supplies. Around Nico's boots, the stones cracked. Dark seams radiated outwards like a shotgun blast of ink, as if Nico's body were trying to expel all the shadows he'd travelled through.**

Will whispered to Nico, "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he muttered back sharply.

**Yesterday had been worse: an entire meadow withering, skeletons rising from the earth. Reyna wasn't anxious for that to happen again.**

'**Drink something.' She offered him a canteen of unicorn draught – powdered horn mixed with sanctified water from the Little Tiber. They'd found it worked on Nico better than nectar, helping to cleanse the fatigue and darkness from his system with less danger of spontaneous combustion.**

"We'll have to get some of that," Will mused.

**Nico gulped it down. He still looked terrible. His skin had a bluish tint. His cheeks were sunken. Hanging at his side, the sceptre of Diocletian glowed angry purple, like a radioactive bruise.**

"Does every future demigod have such an… odd way of describing things?" questioned Heracles. "Certainly today people are more normal."

"Well have the gods ever been sane?" retorted Annabeth.

"Ooh burn," whispered Leo.

**He studied Reyna. 'How did you do that … that surge of energy?'**

**Reyna turned her forearm. The tattoo still burned like hot wax: the symbol of Bellona, SPQR, with four lines for her years of service. 'I don't like to talk about it,' she said, 'but it's a power from my mother. I can impart strength to others.'**

"Can your sister do that too?" asked Hazel. Reyna nodded.

**Coach Hedge looked up from his rucksack. 'Seriously? Why haven't you hooked me up, Roman girl? I want super-muscles!'**

"Yeah!" yelled Dakota. "I want muscles too!"

"It'll say," Hermes replied.

**Reyna frowned. 'It doesn't work like that, Coach. I can only do it in life-and-death situations, and it's more useful in large groups. When I command troops, I can share whatever attributes I have – strength, courage, endurance – multiplied by the size of my forces.'**

**Nico arched an eyebrow. 'Useful for a Roman praetor.'**

"Indeed!" Octavian snarled. "She's been influencing us all along, with her _mind manipulation…_"

Annabeth broke in with a shout, "Shut UP Octavian!"

**Reyna didn't answer. She preferred not to speak of her power for exactly this reason. She didn't want the demigods under her command to think she was controlling them, or that she'd become a leader because she had some special magic. She could only share the qualities she already possessed, and she couldn't help anyone who wasn't worthy of being a hero.**

"See!" Annabeth snapped.

**Coach Hedge grunted. 'Too bad. Super-muscles would be nice.' He went back to sorting through his pack, which seemed to hold a bottomless supply of cooking utensils, survivalist gear and random sports equipment.**

**Nico took another swig of unicorn draught. His eyes were heavy with exhaustion, but Reyna could tell he was fighting to stay awake.**

'**You stumbled just now,' he noted. 'When you use your power … do you get some sort of, um, feedback from me?'**

'**It's not mind-reading,'**

Annabeth glared at Octavian again.

**she said. 'Not even an empathy link. Just … a temporary wave of exhaustion. Primal emotions. Your pain washes over me. I take on some of your burden.'**

**Nico's expression became guarded.**

**He twisted the silver skull ring on his finger, the same way Reyna did with her silver ring when she was thinking. Sharing a habit with the son of Hades made her uneasy.**

"Sorry Nico," she apologized.

"It's all right," he said.

**She'd felt more pain from Nico in their brief connection than she had from her entire legion during the battle against the giant Polybotes. It had drained her worse than the last time she'd used her power, to sustain her pegasus Scipio during their journey across the Atlantic.**

**She tried to push away that memory. Her brave winged friend dying from poison, his muzzle in her lap, looking at her trustingly as she raised her dagger to end his misery … Gods, no. She couldn't dwell on that or it would break her.**

Reyna looked down at her hands in her lap, overcome with sadness. Many Greek campers felt sad too, remembering what it felt like to lose a pegasus as well.

**But the pain she'd felt from Nico was sharper.**

'**You should rest,' she told him. 'After two jumps in a row, even with a little help … you're lucky to be alive. We'll need you to be ready again by nightfall.'**

**She felt bad asking him to do something so impossible. Unfortunately, she'd had a lot of practice pushing demigods beyond their limits.**

**Nico clenched his jaw and nodded. 'We're stuck here now.' He scanned the ruins. 'But Pompeii is the last place I would've chosen to land. This place is full of lemures.'**

'**Lemurs?' Coach Hedge seemed to be making some sort of snare out of kite string, a tennis racket and a hunting knife. 'You mean those cute fuzzy critters –'**

'**No.' Nico sounded annoyed, like he got that question a lot. 'Lemures. Unfriendly ghosts. All Roman cities have them, but in Pompeii –'**

'**The whole city was wiped out,' Reyna remembered. 'In 79 C.E., Vesuvius erupted and covered the town in ash.'**

**Nico nodded. 'A tragedy like that creates a lot of angry spirits.'**

**Coach Hedge eyed the distant volcano. 'It's steaming. Is that a bad sign?'**

"Probably," said Apollo, the god of signs.

'**I – I'm not sure.' Nico picked at a hole in the knee of his black jeans. 'Mountain gods, the ourae, can sense children of Hades. It's possible that's why we were pulled off course. The spirit of Vesuvius might have been intentionally trying to kill us.**

"When is anything _not_ trying to kill you," grumbled Thalia.

**But I doubt the mountain can hurt us this far away. Working up to a full eruption would take too long. The immediate threat is all around us.'**

**The back of Reyna's neck tingled.**

**She'd grown used to Lares, the friendly spirits at Camp Jupiter, but even they made her uneasy. They didn't have a good understanding of personal space. Sometimes they'd walk right through her, leaving her with vertigo.**

"I hate that," Frank mused.

**Being in Pompeii gave Reyna the same feeling, as if the whole city was one big ghost that had swallowed her whole.**

**She couldn't tell her friends how much she feared ghosts, or why she feared them. The whole reason she and her sister had run away from San Juan all those years ago … that secret had to stay buried.**

"Ooh, the scary praetor lady is _scared_ of something, care to tell us why?" joked Leo. THe look Reyna sent him in return was icy enough to freeze his bones.

'**Can you keep them at bay?' she asked.**

**Nico turned up his palms. 'I've sent out that message: Stay away. But once I'm asleep it won't do us much good.'**

**Coach Hedge patted his tennis-racket-knife contraption. 'Don't worry, kid. I'm going to line the perimeter with alarms and snares. Plus, I'll be watching over you the whole time with my baseball bat.'**

**That didn't seem to reassure Nico, but his eyes were already half-closed. 'Okay. But … go easy. We don't want another Albania.'**

'**No,' Reyna agreed.**

**Their first shadow-travel experience together two days ago had been a total fiasco, possibly the most humiliating episode in Reyna's long career. Perhaps someday, if they survived, they would look back on it and laugh, but not now. The three of them had agreed never to speak of it. What happened in Albania would stay in Albania.**

Hermes and his children cursed, eager for a funny story.

**Coach Hedge looked hurt. 'Fine, whatever. Just rest, kid. We got you covered.'**

'**All right,' Nico relented. 'Maybe a little …' He managed to take off his aviator jacket and wad it into a pillow before he keeled over and began to snore.**

**Reyna marvelled at how peaceful he looked. The worry lines vanished. His face became strangely angelic … like his surname, di Angelo. She could almost believe he was a regular fourteen-year-old boy, not a son of Hades who had been pulled out of time from the 1940s and forced to endure more tragedy and danger than most demigods would in a lifetime.**

Cue the sympathetic looks towards Nico.

**When Nico had arrived at Camp Jupiter, Reyna didn't trust him. She'd sensed there was more to his story than being an ambassador from his father, Pluto. Now, of course, she knew the truth. He was a Greek demigod – the first person in living memory, perhaps the first ever, to go back and forth between the Roman and Greek camps without telling either group that the other existed.**

**Strangely, that made Reyna trust Nico more.**

"Another example of how these future demigods are clearly unstable," exclaimed Heracles. In his day, a real hero never trusted anybody, and certainly never trusted a spy!

"It will be explained," reasoned Athena. Reyna seemed smart, Athena thought. In addition, she was protecting her statue. That alone caused Athena to favor the praetor.

**Sure, he wasn't Roman. He'd never hunted with Lupa or endured the brutal legion training. But Nico had proven himself in other ways. He'd kept the camps' secrets for the best of reasons, because he feared a war. He had plunged into Tartarus alone, voluntarily, to find the Doors of Death. He'd been captured and imprisoned by giants. He had led the crew of the Argo II into the House of Hades … and now he had accepted yet another terrible quest: risking himself to haul the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood.**

**The pace of the journey was maddeningly slow. They could only shadow-travel a few hundred miles each night, resting during the day to let Nico recover, but even that required more stamina from Nico than Reyna would have thought possible.**

**He carried so much sadness and loneliness, so much heartache. Yet he put his mission first. He persevered. Reyna respected that. She understood that.**

**She'd never been a touchy-feely person, but she had the strangest desire to drape her cloak over Nico's shoulders and tuck him in. She mentally chided herself. He was a comrade, not her little brother. He wouldn't appreciate the gesture.**

Nico rolled his eyes.

'**Hey.' Coach Hedge interrupted her thoughts. 'You need sleep, too. I'll take first watch and cook some grub. Those ghosts shouldn't be too dangerous now that the sun's coming up.'**

**Reyna hadn't noticed how light it was getting. Pink and turquoise clouds striped the eastern horizon. The little bronze faun cast a shadow across the dry fountain.**

'**I've read about this place,' Reyna realized. 'It's one of the best-preserved villas in Pompeii. They call it the House of the Faun.'**

**Gleeson glanced at the statue with distaste. 'Yeah, well, today it's the House of the Satyr.'**

**Reyna managed a smile. She was starting to appreciate the differences between satyrs and fauns. If she ever fell asleep with a faun on duty, she'd wake up with her supplies stolen, a moustache drawn on her face and the faun long gone. Coach Hedge was different – mostly good different, though he did have an unhealthy obsession with martial arts and baseball bats.**

'**All right,' she agreed. 'You take first watch. I'll put Aurum and Argentum on guard duty with you.'**

**Hedge looked like he wanted to protest, but Reyna whistled sharply. The metallic greyhounds materialized from the ruins, racing towards her from different directions. Even after so many years, Reyna had no idea where they came from or where they went when she dismissed them, but seeing them lifted her spirits.**

**Hedge cleared his throat. 'You sure those aren't Dalmatians? They look like Dalmatians.'**

'**They're greyhounds, Coach.' Reyna had no idea why Hedge feared Dalmatians,**

Leo snickered, and Piper hit him on the arm.

**but she was too tired to ask right now. 'Aurum, Argentum, guard us while I sleep. Obey Gleeson Hedge.'**

**The dogs circled the courtyard, keeping their distance from the Athena Parthenos, which radiated hostility towards everything Roman.**

**Reyna herself was only now getting used to it, and she was pretty sure the statue did not appreciate being relocated in the middle of an ancient Roman city.**

**She lay down and pulled her purple cloak over herself. Her fingers curled around the pouch at her belt, where she kept the silver coin Annabeth had given her before they parted company in Epirus.**

**It's a sign that things can change, Annabeth had told her. The Mark of Athena is yours now. Maybe the coin will bring you luck.**

**Whether that luck would be good or bad, Reyna wasn't sure.**

**She took one last look at the bronze faun cowering before the sunrise and the Athena Parthenos. Then she closed her eyes and slipped into dreams.**

"That's it," Hermes said.

"Do you wanna tell us about Puerto Rico now?" asked a legionnaire.

"No," Reyna growled. She grabbed the book and thrust it into Annabeth's chest.

"You read." Annabeth nodded, and said, "Reyna VI"


	7. Reyna VI

"**Reyna VI"** Annabeth read.

**MOST OF THE TIME, Reyna could control her nightmares.**

Percy whistled. "I would _love _to be able to do that… how did you learn?"

"Practice," Reyna grunted.

**She had trained her mind to start all her dreams in her favourite place – the Garden of Bacchus on the tallest hill in New Rome. She felt safe and tranquil there.**

"Who's Bacchus!" demanded Dionysus.

"You," Annabeth responded.

**When visions invaded her sleep – as they always did with demigods – she could contain them by imagining they were reflections in the garden's fountain. This allowed her to sleep peacefully and avoid waking up the next morning in a cold sweat.**

**Tonight, however, she wasn't so lucky.**

Knowing looks were cast among the future demigods. They all had had experience with bad dreams.

**The dream began well enough. She stood in the garden on a warm afternoon, the arbour heavy with blooming honey-suckle. In the central fountain, the little statue of Bacchus spouted water into the basin.**

**The golden domes and red-tiled roofs of New Rome spread out below her. Half a mile west rose the fortifications of Camp Jupiter. Beyond that, the Little Tiber curved gently around the valley, tracing the edge of the Berkeley Hills, hazy and golden in the summer light.**

"That sounds nice," Will sighed.

**Reyna held a cup of hot chocolate, her favourite drink.**

"I like hot chocolate too!" burst Leo.

Many of the legionnaires nodded their agreement. New Rome's hot chocolate was the stuff of legends.

**She exhaled contentedly. This place was worth defending – for herself, for her friends, for all demigods. Her four years at Camp Jupiter hadn't been easy, but they'd been the best time of Reyna's life.**

"We love you too!" grinned an especially daring legionnaire.

**Suddenly the horizon darkened. Reyna thought it might be a storm. Then she realized a tidal wave of dark loam was rolling across the hills, turning the skin of the earth inside out, leaving nothing behind.**

"Gaia," muttered the demigods.

**Reyna watched in horror as the earthen tide reached the edge of the valley. The god Terminus sustained a magical barrier around the camp, but it slowed the destruction for only a moment. Purple light sprayed upward like shattered glass, and the tide poured through, shredding trees, destroying roads, wiping the Little Tiber off the map.**

The legionnaires winced, imagining the destruction of their home.

**It's a vision, Reyna thought. I can control this.**

**She tried to change the dream. She imagined that the destruction was only a reflection in the fountain, a harmless video image, but the nightmare continued in full vivid scope.**

"The Earth Mother is much stronger than you," murmured Hermes. "Sad to say."

**The earth swallowed the Field of Mars, obliterating every trace of forts and trenches from the war games. The city's aqueduct collapsed like a line of children's blocks. Camp Jupiter itself fell – watchtowers crashing down, walls and barracks disintegrating. The screams of demigods were silenced, and the earth moved on.**

Piper covered her mouth with her hand.

**A sob built in Reyna's throat. The gleaming shrines and monuments on Temple Hill crumbled. The coliseum and the hippodrome were swept away. The tide of loam reached the Pomerian line and roared straight into the city. Families ran through the forum. Children cried in terror.**

**The Senate House imploded. Villas and gardens disappeared like crops under a tiller. The tide churned uphill towards the Garden of Bacchus – the last remnant of Reyna's world.**

**You left them helpless, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano. A woman's voice issued from the black terrain. Your camp will be destroyed. Your quest is a fool's errand. My hunter comes for you.**

Artemis' face tightened at the mention of the hunter.

**Reyna tore herself from the garden railing. She ran to the fountain of Bacchus and gripped the rim of the basin, staring desperately into the water. She willed the nightmare to become a harmless reflection.**

**THUNK.**

**The basin broke in half, split by an arrow the size of a rake. Reyna stared in shock at the raven-feather fletching, the shaft painted red, yellow and black like a coral snake, the Stygian iron point embedded in her gut.**

"OH" yelled Apollo. "_That_ hunter!"

Percy looked confused, as did many other demigods. "_What _hunter?"

"_The_ hunter," Annabeth said sharply. "-

"SPOILERS" Nico yelled.

**She looked up through a haze of pain. At the edge of the garden, a dark figure approached – the silhouette of a man whose eyes shone like miniature headlamps, blinding Reyna. She heard the scrape of iron against leather as he drew another arrow from his quiver.**

"I'm not liking this hunter…" muttered Leo.

**Then her dream changed.**

**The garden and the hunter vanished, along with the arrow in Reyna's stomach.**

**She found herself in an abandoned vineyard. Stretched out before her, acres of dead grapevines hung in rows on wooden lattices, like gnarled miniature skeletons. At the far end of the fields stood a cedar-shingled farmhouse with a wraparound porch. Beyond that, the land dropped off into the sea.**

**Reyna recognized this place: the Goldsmith Winery on the north shore of Long Island. Her scouting parties had secured it as a forward base for the legion's assault on Camp Half-Blood.**

**She had ordered the bulk of the legion to remain in Manhattan until she told them otherwise, but obviously Octavian had disobeyed her.**

"Octavian," pretty much every future demigod snarled in disgust.

**The entire Twelfth Legion was camped in the northern-most field. They'd dug in with their usual military precision – ten-foot-deep trenches and spiked earthen walls around the perimeter, a watchtower on each corner armed with ballistae. Inside, tents were arranged in neat rows of white and red. The standards of all five cohorts curled in the wind.**

**The sight of the legion should have lifted Reyna's spirits. It was a small force, barely two hundred demigods, but they were well trained and well organized. If Julius Caesar came back from the dead, he would've had no trouble recognizing Reyna's troops as worthy soldiers of Rome.**

Reyna grinned at the mention of the legion, along with the rest of the legion.

**But they had no business being so close to Camp Half-Blood. Octavian's insubordination made Reyna clench her fists. He was intentionally provoking the Greeks, hoping for battle.**

Any good feelings about the introduction of the legion were quickly dispelled because Octavian.

**Her dream vision zoomed to the porch of the farmhouse**

"Farmhouse!" gulped a camper.

"Not _our_ farmhouse," his friend snapped.

**, where Octavian sat in a gilded chair that looked suspiciously like a throne. Along with his senatorial purple-lined toga, his centurion badge and his augur's knife, he had adopted a new honour: a white cloth mantle over his head, which marked him as Pontifex Maximus, high priest to the gods.**

**Reyna wanted to strangle him. No demigod in living memory had taken the title Pontifex Maximus. By doing so, Octavian was elevating himself almost to the level of emperor.**

_He doesn't sound that bad_, Hercules thought to himself.

**To his right, reports and maps were strewn across a low table. To his left, a marble altar was heaped with fruit and gold offerings, no doubt for the gods. But to Reyna it looked like an altar to Octavian himself.**

**At his side, the legion's eagle bearer, Jacob, stood at attention, sweating in his lion-skin cloak as he held the staff with the golden eagle standard of the Twelfth.**

**Octavian was in the midst of an audience. At the base of the stairs knelt a boy in jeans and a rumpled hoodie. Octavian's fellow centurion of the First Cohort, Mike Kahale, stood to one side with his arms crossed, glowering with obvious displeasure.**

'**Well, now.' Octavian scanned a piece of parchment. 'I see here you are a legacy, a descendant of Orcus.'**

**The boy in the hoodie looked up, and Reyna caught her breath. Bryce Lawrence.**

A couple of legionnaires screamed in response.

**She recognized his mop of brown hair, his broken nose, his cruel green eyes and smug, twisted smile.**

'**Yes, my lord,' Bryce said.**

'**Oh, I'm not a lord.' Octavian's eyes crinkled. 'Just a centurion, an augur and a humble priest doing his best to serve the gods. I understand you were dismissed from the legion for … ah, disciplinary problems.'**

Leo faked a gag.

**Reyna tried to shout, but she couldn't make a sound. Octavian knew perfectly well why Bryce had been kicked out. Much like his godly forefather, Orcus, the underworld god of punishment, Bryce was completely remorseless. The little psychopath had survived his trials with Lupa just fine, but as soon as he arrived at Camp Jupiter he had proved to be untrainable. He had tried to set a cat on fire for fun. He had stabbed a horse and sent it stampeding through the Forum. He was even suspected of sabotaging a siege engine and getting his own centurion killed during the war games.**

"He sounds…" began Will.

"Terrible," affirmed Clarisse.

**If Reyna had been able to prove it, Bryce's punishment would've been death. But because the evidence was circumstantial, and because Bryce's family was rich and powerful with lots of influence in New Rome, he'd got away with the lighter sentence of banishment.**

More than one legionnaire winced in shame.

'**Yes, Pontifex,' Bryce said slowly. 'But, if I may, those charges were unproven. I am a loyal Roman.'**

**Mike Kahale looked like he was doing his best not to throw up.**

"Me too," Piper groaned.

**Octavian smiled. 'I believe in second chances. You've responded to my call for recruits. You have the proper credentials and letters of recommendation. Do you pledge to follow my orders and serve the legion?'**

'**Absolutely,' said Bryce.**

'**Then you are reinstated in probatio,' Octavian said, 'until you have proven yourself in combat.'**

**He gestured at Mike, who reached in his pouch and fished out a lead probatio tablet on a leather cord. He hung the cord around Bryce's neck.**

'**Report to the Fifth Cohort,' Octavian said. 'They could use some new blood, some fresh perspective. If your centurion Dakota has any problem with that, tell him to talk to me.'**

**Bryce smiled like he'd just been handed a sharp knife. 'My pleasure.'**

"Ew!"

'**And, Bryce.' Octavian's face looked almost ghoulish under his white mantle – his eyes too piercing, his cheeks too gaunt, his lips too thin and colourless. 'However much money, power and prestige the Lawrence family carries in the legion, remember that my family carries more. I am personally sponsoring you, as I am sponsoring all the other new recruits. Follow my orders, and you'll advance quickly. Soon I may have a little job for you – a chance to prove your worth. But cross me and I will not be as lenient as Reyna. Do you understand?'**

"_Lenient as Reyna _oh my gods that-" Annabeth exclaimed. She cut herself off with an angry breath.

**Bryce's smile faded. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he changed his mind. He nodded.**

'**Good,' Octavian said. 'Also, get a haircut. You look like one of those Graecus scum.**

**Dismissed.'**

"_Greacus scum,_" Clarisse growled.

**After Bryce left, Mike Kahale shook his head. 'That makes two dozen now.'**

'**It's good news, my friend,' Octavian assured him. 'We need the extra manpower.'**

'**Murderers. Thieves. Traitors.'**

'**Loyal demigods,' Octavian said, 'who owe their position to me.'**

**Mike scowled. Until Reyna had met him, she'd never understood why people called biceps guns, but Mike's arms were as thick as bazooka barrels. He had broad features, a toasted-almond complexion, onyx hair and proud dark eyes, like the old Hawaiian kings. She wasn't sure how a high-school linebacker from Hilo had wound up with Venus for a mom, but no one in the legion gave him any grief about that – not once they saw him crush rocks with his bare hands.**

"I was going to say something about his mom being Venus, but maybe not!" grinned Leo.

**Reyna had always liked Mike Kahale. Unfortunately, Mike was very loyal to his sponsor. And his sponsor was Octavian.**

Mike grimaced.

**The self-appointed pontifex rose and stretched. 'Don't worry, old friend. Our siege teams have the Greek camp surrounded. Our eagles have complete air superiority. The Greeks aren't going anywhere until we're ready to strike. In eleven days, all my forces will be in place. My little surprises will be prepared. On August first, the Feast of Spes, the Greek camp will fall.'**

'**But Reyna said –'**

'**We've been through this.' Octavian slid his iron dagger from his belt and threw it at the table, where it impaled a map of Camp Half-Blood. 'Reyna has forfeited her position. She went to the ancient lands, which is against the law.'**

More than a few demigods muttered in protest.

'**But the Earth Mother –'**

'– **has been stirring because of the war between the Greek and Roman camps, yes? The gods are incapacitated, yes? And how do we solve that problem, Mike? We eliminate the division. We wipe out the Greeks. We return the gods to their proper manifestation as Roman. Once the gods are restored to their full power, Gaia will not dare rise. She will sink back into her slumber. We demigods will be strong and unified, as we were in the old days of the empire. Besides, the first day of August is most auspicious – the month named after my ancestor Augustus. And you know how he united the Romans?'**

'**He seized power and became emperor,' Mike rumbled.**

Annabeth snorted.

**Octavian waved aside the comment. 'Nonsense. He saved Rome by becoming First Citizen. He wanted peace and prosperity, not power! Believe me, Mike, I intend to follow his example. I will save New Rome and, when I do, I will remember my friends.'**

**Mike shifted his considerable bulk. 'You sound certain. Has your gift of prophecy –'**

**Octavian held up his hand in warning. He glanced at Jacob the eagle bearer, who was still standing at attention behind him. 'Jacob, you're dismissed. Why don't you go polish the eagle or something?'**

**Jacob's shoulders slumped in relief. 'Yes, Augur. I mean Centurion! I mean Pontifex! I mean –'**

Laugher.

'**Go.'**

'**I'll go.'**

**Once Jacob had hobbled off, Octavian's face clouded. 'Mike, I told you not to speak of my, ah, problem. But to answer your question: no, there still seems to be some interference with Apollo's usual gift to me.' He glanced resentfully at a pile of mutilated stuffed animals heaped in the corner of the porch. 'I can't see the future. Perhaps that false Oracle at Camp Half-Blood is working some sort of witchcraft. But as I've told you before, in strictest confidence, Apollo spoke to me clearly last year at Camp Jupiter! He personally blessed my endeavours. He promised I would be remembered as the saviour of the Romans.'**

"Did you?" Jason asked.

"Of course not!" Apollo exclaimed. "I would _never _say anything to a person like that, and also this is happening in the future so I have no idea.

"But you're the god of prophecy…."

"And?" snapped Apollo. "That's not how prophecies work! Annabeth, keep reading!"

**Octavian spread his arms, revealing his harp tattoo, the symbol of his godly forefather. Seven slash marks indicated his years of service – more than any presiding officer, including Reyna.**

'**Never fear, Mike. We will crush the Greeks. We will stop Gaia and her minions. Then we'll take that harpy the Greeks have been harbouring – the one who memorized our Sibylline Books – and we'll force her to give us the knowledge of our ancestors. Once that happens, I'm sure Apollo will restore my gift of prophecy. Camp Jupiter will be more powerful than ever. We will rule the future.'**

**Mike's scowl didn't lessen, but he raised his fist in salute. 'You're the boss.'**

'**Yes, I am.' Octavian pulled his dagger from the table. 'Now, go check on those two dwarfs you captured. I want them properly terrified before I interrogate them again and dispatch them to Tartarus.'**

"Oh no!" gasped Leo.

**The dream faded.**

"Oh good," Aphrodite said.

'**Hey, wake up.' Reyna's eyes fluttered open. Gleeson Hedge was leaning over her, shaking her shoulder. 'We got trouble.'**

**His grave tone got her blood moving.**

Everybody leaned forward in their seats, anticipating a catastrophic event following the terrible dream.

'**What is it?' She struggled to sit up. 'Ghosts? Monsters?'**

"Titans? Giants?" continued Percy.

**Hedge scowled. 'Worse. Tourists.'**

Everybody laughed at that.

"Well, that was a terrible chapter, good thing it was only a dream, right?" winked Leo.

"Imma read next," he said, and snatched the book up.

"Reyna VII"


	8. Reyna VII

**THE HORDES HAD ARRIVED.**

Ares sat up, excited for some action.

**In groups of twenty or thirty, tourists swarmed through the ruins, milling around the villas, wandering the cobblestone paths, gawking at the colourful frescoes and mosaics.**

"Oh," he said.

**Reyna worried how the tourists would react to a forty-foot-tall statue of Athena in the middle of the courtyard, but the Mist must have been working overtime to obscure the mortals' vision.**

**Each time a group approached, they'd stop at the edge of the courtyard and stare in disappointment at the statue. One British tour guide announced, 'Ah, scaffolding. It appears this area is undergoing restoration. Pity. Let's move along.'**

**And off they went.**

**At least the statue didn't rumble, 'DIE, UNBELIEVERS!' and zap the mortals to dust. Reyna had once dealt with a statue of the goddess Diana like that. It hadn't been her most relaxing day.**

"Which one is Diana?" asked Zeus. "She seems cool. I want a statue like that."

"Artemis," Reyna answered.

"Oh," he said.

**She recalled what Annabeth had told her about the Athena Parthenos: its magical aura both attracted monsters and kept them at bay. Sure enough, every so often, out of the corner of her eye, Reyna would spot glowing white spirits in Roman clothes flitting among the ruins, frowning at the statue in consternation.**

'**Those lemures are everywhere,' Gleeson muttered. 'Keeping their distance for now – but come nightfall we'd better be ready to move. Ghosts are always worse at night.'**

**Reyna didn't need to be reminded of that.**

Many of the demigods murmured in agreement.

**She watched as an elderly couple in matching pastel shirts and Bermuda shorts tottered through a nearby garden. She was glad they didn't come any closer. Around the camp, Coach Hedge had rigged all sorts of trip wires, snares and oversized mousetraps that wouldn't stop any self-respecting monster, but they might very well bring down a senior citizen.**

"They would have!" announced Hedge. "You just don't have any faith."

**Despite the warm morning, Reyna shivered from her dreams. She couldn't decide which was more terrifying – the impending destruction of New Rome, or the way Octavian was poisoning the legion from the inside.**

**Your quest is a fool's errand.**

**Camp Jupiter needed her. The Twelfth Legion needed her. Yet Reyna was halfway across the world, watching a satyr toast blueberry waffles on a stick over an open fire.**

**She wanted to talk about her nightmares, but she decided to wait until Nico woke up. She wasn't sure she'd have the courage to describe them twice.**

Reyna shivered in remembrance.

**Nico kept snoring. Reyna had discovered that once he fell asleep it took a lot to wake him up. The coach could do a goat-hoof tap dance around Nico's head and the son of Hades wouldn't even budge.**

"Is it because you… _sleep like the dead?_" the Stolls laughed. Nico sent them a glowering stare in response.

'**Here.' Hedge offered her a plate of flame-grilled waffles with fresh sliced kiwi and pineapple. It all looked surprisingly good.**

'**Where are you getting these supplies?' Reyna marvelled.**

"We definitely could have used waffles and fruit on some of our missions," Percy grinned.

'**Hey, I'm a satyr. We're very efficient packers.' He took a bite of waffle. 'We also know how to live off the land!'**

**As Reyna ate, Coach Hedge took out a notepad and started to write. When he was finished, he folded the paper into an aeroplane and tossed it into the air. A breeze carried it away.**

'**A letter to your wife?' Reyna guessed.**

**Under the rim of his baseball cap, Hedge's eyes were bloodshot. 'Mellie's a cloud nymph. Air spirits send stuff by paper aeroplane all the time. Hopefully her cousins will keep the letter going across the ocean until it finds her. It's not as fast as an Iris-message, but, well, I want our kid to have some record of me, in case, you know …'**

The cheery mood from before dissipated as everyone was reminded of the impending doom.

'**We'll get you home,' Reyna promised. 'You will see your kid.'**

**Hedge clenched his jaw and said nothing.**

**Reyna was pretty good at getting people to talk. She considered it essential to know her comrades-in-arms. But she'd had a tough time convincing Hedge to open up about his wife, Mellie, who was close to giving birth back at Camp Half-Blood. Reyna had trouble imagining the coach as a father, but she understood what it was like to grow up without parents. She wasn't going to let that happen to Coach Hedge's child.**

Many of the demigods nodded in agreement, having been in similar situations before.

'**Yeah, well …' The satyr bit off another piece of waffle, including the stick he'd toasted it on. 'I just wish we could move faster.' He chin-pointed to Nico. 'I don't see how this kid is going to last one more jump. How many more will it take us to get home?'**

"A lot," snorted Nico.

**Reyna shared his concern. In only eleven days, the giants planned to awaken Gaia. Octavian planned to attack Camp Half-Blood on the same day. That couldn't be a coincidence. Perhaps Gaia was whispering in Octavian's ear, influencing his decisions subconsciously. Or worse: Octavian was actively in league with the earth goddess. Reyna didn't want to believe that even Octavian would knowingly betray the legion, but after what she'd seen in her dreams she couldn't be sure.**

"Well we all know Octavian has never been in his right mind," mused Percy.

**She finished her meal as a group of Chinese tourists shuffled past the courtyard. Reyna had been awake for less than an hour and already she was restless to get moving.**

'**Thanks for breakfast, Coach.' She got to her feet and stretched. 'If you'll excuse me, where there are tourists, there are bathrooms. I need to use the little praetors' room.'**

Leo snorted.

'**Go ahead.' The coach jangled the whistle that hung around his neck. 'If anything happens, I'll blow.'**

**Reyna left Aurum and Argentum on guard duty and strolled through the crowds of mortals until she found a visitors' centre with restrooms. She did her best to clean up, but she found it ironic that she was in an actual Roman city and couldn't enjoy a nice hot Roman bath. She had to settle for paper towels, a broken soap dispenser and an asthmatic hand dryer. And the toilets … the less said about those, the better.**

"Ew!" grimaced Aphrodite.

**As she was walking back, she passed a small museum with a window display. Behind the glass lay a row of plaster figures, all frozen in the throes of death. A young girl was curled in a fetal position. A woman lay twisted in agony, her mouth open to scream, her arms thrown overhead. A man knelt with his head bowed, as if accepting the inevitable.**

**Reyna stared with a mixture of horror and revulsion. She'd read about such figures, but she'd never seen them in person. After the eruption of Vesuvius, volcanic ash had buried the city and hardened to rock around dying Pompeians. Their bodies had disintegrated, leaving behind human-shaped pockets of air. Early archaeologists had poured plaster into the holes and made these casts – creepy replicas of Ancient Romans.**

**Reyna found it disturbing, wrong, that these people's dying moments were on display like clothes in a shop window, yet she couldn't look away.**

"Death should never be a spectacle," frowned Hades.

Percy snorted. "Yeah ok, like that's never happened before."

**All her life she'd dreamed about coming to Italy. She had assumed it would never happen. The ancient lands were forbidden to modern demigods; the area was simply too dangerous. Nevertheless, she wanted to follow in the footsteps of Aeneas, son of Aphrodite, the first demigod to settle here after the Trojan War. She wanted to see the original Tiber River, where Lupa the wolf goddess saved Romulus and Remus.**

"You know Reyna I would never picture you as a tourist," Leo smirked.

"I am _appreciating_ _Roman culture and heritage!"_

**But Pompeii? Reyna had never wanted to come here. The site of Rome's most infamous disaster, an entire city swallowed by the earth … After Reyna's nightmares, that hit a little too close to home.**

Frank winced.

**So far in the ancient lands, she'd only seen one place on her wish list: Diocletian's Palace in Split, and even that visit had hardly gone the way she'd imagined. Reyna used to dream about going there with Jason to admire their favourite emperor's home. She pictured romantic walks with him through the old city, sunset picnics on the parapets.**

Jason shifted in his seat awkwardly.

**Instead, Reyna had arrived in Croatia not with him but with a dozen angry wind spirits on her tail. She'd fought her way through ghosts in the palace. On her way out, gryphons had attacked, mortally wounding her pegasus. The closest she'd got to Jason was finding a note he'd left for her under a bust of Diocletian in the basement.**

**She would only have painful memories of that place.**

**Don't be bitter, she chided herself. Aeneas suffered, too. So did Romulus, Diocletian and all the rest. Romans don't complain about hardship.**

"No we don't!" boasted an exceptionally proud legionnaire.

**Staring at the plaster death figures in the museum window, she wondered what they had been thinking as they curled up to die in the ashes. Probably not: Well, we're Romans! We shouldn't complain!**

**A gust of wind blew through the ruins, making a hollow moan. Sunlight flashed against the window, momentarily blinding her.**

**With a start, Reyna looked up. The sun was directly overhead. How could it be noon already? She'd left the House of the Faun just after breakfast. She'd only been standing here a few minutes … hadn't she?**

**She tore herself from the museum display and hurried off, trying to shake the feeling that the dead Pompeians were whispering behind her back.**

**The rest of the afternoon was unnervingly quiet.**

**Reyna kept watch while Coach Hedge slept, but there was nothing much to guard against. Tourists came and went. Random harpies and wind spirits flew by overhead. Reyna's dogs would snarl in warning, but the monsters didn't stop to fight.**

"Well that's good"

**Ghosts skulked around the edges of the courtyard, apparently intimidated by the Athena Parthenos. Reyna couldn't blame them. The longer the statue stood in Pompeii, the more anger it seemed to radiate, making Reyna's skin itchy and her nerves raw.**

"Clearly the statue is too great to be around the presence of people like _you_," sniffed Athena.

**Finally, just after sunset, Nico woke. He wolfed down an avocado and cheese sandwich, the first time he'd shown a decent appetite since leaving the House of Hades.**

**Reyna hated to ruin his dinner, but they didn't have much time. As the daylight faded, the ghosts started moving closer and in greater numbers.**

**She told him about her dreams: the earth swallowing Camp Jupiter, Octavian closing in on Camp Half-Blood and the hunter with the glowing eyes who had shot Reyna in the gut.**

**Nico stared at his empty plate. 'This hunter … a giant, maybe?'**

**Coach Hedge grunted. 'I'd rather not find out. I say we keep moving.'**

**Nico's mouth twitched. 'You are suggesting we avoid a fight?'**

'**Listen, cupcake, I like a smackdown as much as the next guy, but we've got enough monsters to worry about without some bounty-hunter giant tracking us across the world. I don't like the sound of those huge arrows.'**

'**For once,' Reyna said, 'I agree with Hedge.'**

**Nico unfolded his aviator jacket. He put his finger through an arrow hole in the sleeve.**

'**I could ask for advice.' Nico sounded reluctant. 'Thalia Grace …'**

"That's me!" Thalia shouted.

'**Jason's sister,' Reyna said.**

**She'd never met Thalia. In fact, she'd only recently learned Jason had a sister. According to Jason, she was a Greek demigod, a daughter of Zeus, who led a group of Diana's … no, Artemis's followers. The whole idea made Reyna's head spin.**

"The whole Greek-Roman thing must be confusing…" mused Hermes.

"You have _no_ idea."

**Nico nodded. 'The Hunters of Artemis are … well, hunters. If anybody knew about this giant hunter guy, Thalia would. I could try sending her an Iris-message.'**

'**You don't sound very excited about the idea,' Reyna noticed. 'Are you two … on bad terms?'**

'**We're fine.'**

"Are you _fine _fine or just fine?"

"We're fine."

**A few feet away, Aurum snarled quietly, which meant Nico was lying.**

**Reyna decided not to press.**

'**I should also try to contact my sister, Hylla,' she said. 'Camp Jupiter is lightly defended. If Gaia attacks there, perhaps the Amazons could help.'**

**Coach Hedge scowled. 'No offence, but, uh … what's an army of Amazons going to do against a wave of dirt?'**

**Reyna fought down a sense of dread. She suspected Hedge was right. Against what she'd seen in her dreams, the only defence would be to prevent the giants from waking Gaia. For that, she had to put her trust in the crew of the Argo II.**

**The daylight was almost gone. Around the courtyard, ghosts were forming a mob – hundreds of glowing Romans carrying spectral clubs or stones.**

'**We can talk more after the next jump,' Reyna decided. 'Right now, we need to get out of here.'**

'**Yeah.' Nico stood. 'I think we can reach Spain this time if we're lucky. Just let me –'**

**The mob of ghosts vanished, like a mass of birthday candles blown out in a single breath.**

"Uh oh," Frank said quietly.

**Reyna's hand went to her dagger. 'Where did they go?'**

**Nico's eyes flitted across the ruins. His expression was not reassuring. 'I – I'm not sure, but I don't think it's a good sign. Keep a lookout. I'll get harnessed up. Should only take a few seconds.'**

"How can you not tell where they went? They're _ghosts_, and you're the _ghost king_!" exclaimed Leo.

"It doesn't work like that!" Nico growled. "They're different ghosts!"

"How can they be different? They're still ghosts!"

"QUIET" boomed Zeus.

**Gleeson Hedge rose to his hooves. 'A few seconds you do not have.'**

**Reyna's stomach curled into a tiny ball.**

**Hedge spoke with a woman's voice – the same one Reyna had heard in her nightmare.**

"Gaea," all the demigods said in unison.

**She drew her knife.**

**Hedge turned towards her, his face expressionless. His eyes were solid black. 'Be glad, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano. You will die as a Roman. You will join the ghosts of Pompeii.'**

The demigods were too tense to comment on Reyna's name.

**The ground rumbled. All around the courtyard, spirals of ash swirled into the air. They solidified into crude human figures – earthen shells like the ones in the museum. They stared at Reyna, their eyes ragged holes in faces of rock.**

"Foreshadowing!" exclaimed Apollo, smacking himself in the forehead.

'**The earth will swallow you,' Hedge said in the voice of Gaia. 'Just as it swallowed them.'**

"Next?" Annabeth asked quietly.

"I will." Frank said. "Reyna VIII"


	9. Reyna VIII

**VIII Reyna**

'**THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM.' Reyna wondered bitterly how many times she'd said that in her demigod career.**

"I've said that," Percy declared. Many other future demigods muttered their agreement or raised their hands.

**She should have a badge made and wear it around to save time. When she died, the words would probably be written on her tombstone: There were too many of them.**

**Her greyhounds stood on either side of her, growling at the earthen shells. Reyna counted at least twenty, closing in from every direction.**

"Wait…" interjected Hephaestus. "Where did you get those dogs from again?"

"You," Reyna said.

"Ah… I thought so."

**Coach Hedge continued to speak in a very womanly voice: 'The dead always outnumber the living. These spirits have waited centuries, unable to express their anger. Now I have given them bodies of earth.'**

Hades scowled.

**One earthen ghost stepped forward. It moved slowly, but its footfall was so heavy it cracked the ancient tiles.**

'**Nico?' Reyna called.**

'**I can't control them,' he said, frantically untangling his harness. 'Something about the rock shells, I guess. I need a couple of seconds to concentrate on making the shadow-jump. Otherwise I might teleport us into another volcano.'**

"But aren't you the god of the earth?" Leo asked Hades.

"No. I'm not. I control the underworld."

"But then why can Hazel do like, precious metals and underground magic?"

"I'm Roman, Leo," Hazel sighed.

"Right."

**Reyna cursed under her breath. There was no way she could fight off so many by herself while Nico prepared their escape, especially with Coach Hedge out of commission. 'Use the sceptre,' she said. 'Get me some zombies.'**

"Yay! Zombies!"

'**It will not help,' Coach Hedge intoned. 'Stand aside, Praetor. Let the ghosts of Pompeii destroy this Greek statue. A true Roman would not resist.'**

"_I _wouldn't resist," Octavian muttered to himself.

**The earthen ghosts shuffled forward. Through their mouth holes, they made hollow whistling noises¸ like someone blowing across empty soda bottles. One stepped on the coach's dagger-tennis-racket trap and smashed it to pieces.**

**From his belt, Nico pulled the sceptre of Diocletian. 'Reyna, if I summon more dead Romans … who's to say they won't join this mob?'**

'**I say. I am a praetor. Get me some legionnaires, and I'll control them.'**

Percy snorted. "'Because I said so.'"

'**You shall perish,' said the coach. 'You shall never –'**

**Reyna smacked him on the head with the pommel of her knife. The satyr crumpled.**

"Yay!" exclaimed Ares.

'**Sorry, Coach,' she muttered. 'That was getting tiresome. Nico – zombies! Then concentrate on getting us out of here.'**

**Nico raised his sceptre and the ground trembled.**

"See, ground!" Leo shouted.

**The earthen ghosts chose that moment to charge. Aurum leaped at the nearest one and literally bit the creature's head off with his metal fangs. The rock shell toppled backwards and shattered.**

Ares jumped to his feet and pumped his fist.

**Argentum was not so lucky. He sprang at another ghost, which swung its heavy arm and bashed the greyhound in his face. Argentum went flying. He staggered to his feet. His head was twisted forty-five degrees to the right. One of his ruby eyes was missing.**

"Oh no," muttered Hepheastus.

**Anger hammered in Reyna's chest like a hot spike. She'd already lost her pegasus. She was not going to lose her dogs, too. She slashed her knife through the ghost's chest, then drew her gladius. Strictly speaking, fighting with two blades wasn't very Roman, but Reyna had spent time with pirates. She'd picked up more than a few tricks.**

"When did you spend time with pirates?" Jason asked. "I didn't know that."

"It was a while ago," she replied sharply.

"Was it from… you know… the island?" Annabeth looked at her.

"Yeah."

**The earthen shells crumbled easily, but they hit like sledgehammers. Reyna didn't understand how, but she knew she couldn't afford to take even one blow. Unlike Argentum, she wouldn't survive getting her head knocked sideways.**

"Definitely not," agreed Apollo.

'**Nico!' She ducked between two earthen ghosts, allowing them to smash each other's heads in. 'Any time now!'**

"Nice!" roared Ares.

**The ground split open down the centre of the courtyard. Dozens of skeletal soldiers clawed their way to the surface. Their shields looked like giant corroded pennies. Their blades were more rust than metal. But Reyna had never been so relieved to see reinforcements.**

"Zombies are gross," Leo frowned.

'**Legion!' she shouted. 'Ad aciem!'**

"What does that mean?" all the Greek gods were confused.

"Form battle lines," Jason clarified.

**The zombies responded, pushing through the earthen ghosts to form a battle line. Some fell, crushed by stone fists. Others managed to close ranks and raise their shields.**

"Oh," Hermes said.

**Behind her, Nico cursed.**

**Reyna risked a backward glance. The sceptre of Diocletian was smoking in Nico's hands.**

'**It's fighting me!' he yelled. 'I don't think it likes summoning Romans to fight other Romans!'**

"Why? Didn't you guys do that like all the time?" Leo asked.

"No those were the Greeks," replied Annabeth.

**Reyna knew that Ancient Romans had spent at least half their time fighting each other, but she decided not to bring that up. 'Just secure Coach Hedge. Get ready to shadow-travel! I'll buy you some –'**

"See!"

**Nico yelped. The sceptre of Diocletian exploded into pieces. Nico didn't look hurt, but he stared at Reyna in shock. 'I – I don't know what happened. You've got a few minutes, tops, before your zombies disappear.'**

"That's not good - you've lost a powerful weapon," Athena mused.

'**Legion!' Reyna shouted. 'Orbem formate! Gladium signe!'**

"Form into this circle formation, then get out you swords," Jason clarified again.

**The zombies circled the Athena Parthenos, their swords ready for close-quar**

**ters fighting. Argentum dragged the unconscious Coach Hedge over to Nico, who was furiously strapping himself into the harness. Aurum stood guard, lunging at any earth ghosts who broke through the line.**

**Reyna fought shoulder to shoulder with the dead legionnaires, sending her strength into their ranks. She knew it wouldn't be enough. The earthen ghosts fell easily, but more kept rising from the ground in swirls of ash. Each time their stone fists connected, another zombie went down.**

**Meanwhile, the Athena Parthenos towered over the battle – regal, haughty and unconcerned.**

Annabeth laughed, while Athena glowered.

**A little help would be nice, Reyna thought. Maybe a destructo-ray? Or some good old-fashioned smiting.**

"The statue doesn't work like that," sniffed Athena.

**The statue did nothing except radiate hatred, which seemed directed equally at Reyna and the attacking ghosts.**

**You want to lug me to Long Island? the statue seemed to say. Good luck with that, Roman scum.**

**Reyna's destiny: to die defending a passive-aggressive goddess.**

All the future demigods laughed. "We've done that!"

**She kept fighting, extending more of her will into the undead troops. In return, they bombarded her with their despair and resentment.**

**You fight for nothing, the zombie legionnaires whispered in her mind. The empire is gone.**

"Well it doesn't sound like a very nice empire," huffed Hercules.

'**For Rome!' Reyna cried hoarsely. She slashed her gladius through one earthen ghost and stabbed her dagger in another's chest. 'Twelfth Legion Fulminata!'**

"Twelfth Legion Fulminata is like a motto, or a rallying cry," Jason said again.

**All around her, zombies fell. Some were crushed in battle. Others disintegrated on their own as the residual power of Diocletian's sceptre finally failed.**

**The earthen ghosts closed in – a sea of misshapen faces with hollow eyes.**

'**Reyna, now!' Nico yelled. 'We're leaving!'**

"Good!"

**She glanced back. Nico had harnessed himself to the Athena Parthenos. He held the unconscious Gleeson Hedge in his arms like a damsel in distress. Aurum and Argentum had disappeared – perhaps too badly damaged to continue fighting.**

"What? No!" exclaimed the Coach.

**Reyna stumbled.**

"Uh oh," muttered Frank.

**A rock fist gave her a glancing blow to the ribcage, and her side erupted in pain. Her head swam. She tried to breathe, but it was like inhaling knives.**

"Do you have experience with that?" said Leo innocently.

"Shut up," Reyna growled.

'**Reyna!' Nico shouted again.**

**The Athena Parthenos flickered, about to disappear.**

**An earthen ghost swung at Reyna's head. She managed to dodge, but the pain in her ribs almost made her black out.**

Apollo grimaced.

**Give up, said the voices in her head. The legacy of Rome is dead and buried, just like Pompeii.**

'**No,' she murmured to herself. 'Not while I'm still alive.'**

**Nico stretched out his hand as he slipped into the shadows. With the last of her strength, Reyna leaped towards him.**

"Oh!" gasped Hermes. "Did you make it?"

"Obviously," drawled Reyna. She picked up the book and read, "Leo IX"


	10. Leo X

**IX Leo**

**LEO DIDN'T WANT TO COME OUT OF THE WALL.**

**He had three more braces to attach, and nobody else was skinny enough to fit in the crawl space. (One of the many advantages of being scrawny.)**

"It's never an advantage," sniffed Hercules.

**Wedged between the layers of the hull with the plumbing and wiring, Leo could be alone with his thoughts. When he got frustrated, which happened about every five seconds, he could hit stuff with his mallet and the other crew members would figure he was working, not throwing a tantrum.**

Hephaestus raised his mallet in acknowledgement.

**One problem with his sanctuary: he only fitted up to his waist. His butt and legs were still on view to the general public, which made it hard for him to hide.**

"You could just try getting smaller," Zeus said.

"Yeah but normal people can't do that," Percy replied. "Only Annabeth."

"I can't do that," she glared.

"But there was that one time though…"

'**Leo!' Piper's voice came from somewhere behind him. 'We need you.'**

**The Celestial bronze O-ring slipped out of Leo's pliers and slid into the depths of the crawl space.**

**Leo sighed. 'Talk to the pants, Piper! 'Cause the hands are busy!'**

"Is that an expression?"

"That's an expression."

'**I am not talking to the pants. Meeting in the mess hall. We're almost at Olympia.'**

'**Yeah, fine. I'll be there in a sec.'**

'**What are you doing, anyway? You've been poking around inside the hull for days.'**

"You would never understand," scoffed Hephaestus.

**Leo swept his flashlight across the Celestial bronze plates and pistons he'd been installing slowly but surely. 'Routine maintenance.'**

"That's not routine maintenance," Nyssa said.

"Yeah I knOW."

**Silence. Piper was a little too good at knowing when he was lying. 'Leo –'**

'**Hey, while you're out there, do me a favour. I got this itch right below my –'**

Hermes snorted.

'**Fine, I'm leaving!'**

**Leo allowed himself a couple more minutes to fasten the brace. His work wasn't done. Not by a long shot. But he was making progress.**

**Of course, he'd laid the groundwork for his secret project when he first built the Argo II, but he hadn't told anyone about it. He had barely been honest with himself about what he was doing.**

**Nothing lasts forever, his dad once told him. Not even the best machines.**

"Some things last forever!" denied Zeus. "Like me."

Percy gagged.

**Yeah, okay, maybe that was true. But Hephaestus had also said, Everything can be reused. Leo intended to test that theory.**

**It was a dangerous risk. If he failed, it would crush him. Not just emotionally. It would physically crush him.**

Annabeth shuddered. She had bad memories of almost being crushed, and it was never fun. As if sensing her discomfort, Percy pulled her closer and settled his head on her shoulder.

**The thought made him claustrophobic.**

**He wriggled out of the crawl space and went back into his cabin.**

**Well … technically it was his cabin, but he didn't sleep there. The mattress was littered with wires, nails and the guts of several disassembled bronze machines. His three massive rolling tool cabinets – Chico, Harpo and Groucho – took up most of the room. Dozens of power tools hung on the walls. The worktable was piled with photocopied blueprints from On Spheres, the forgotten Archimedes text Leo had liberated from an underground workshop in Rome.**

"What are those names from?" asked Athena.

"Chico, Harpo, and Groucho are the names of the Marx Brothers," replied Connor Stoll.

"Are they some sort of great craftsmen, or philosophers, or important figures in your time?"

"Yeah… definitely important," he snickered.

**Even if he wanted to sleep in his cabin, it would've been too cramped and dangerous. He preferred to bed down in the engine room, where the constant hum of machinery helped him fall asleep. Besides, ever since his time on the island of Ogygia, he had become fond of camping out. A bedroll on the floor was all he needed.**

"You went to Ogygia?" exclaimed Odysseus. "I feel sorry for you. Calypso can be such a-"

"Hey!" interjected Leo. "I went to Ogygia and had a very nice time, Calypso is a wonderful person, you're just a-"

"Silence!" boomed Zeus. Quieter, he added, "But she's a _titan_."

"Yeah, I knOW."

**His cabin was only for storage … and for working on his most difficult projects.**

**He pulled his keys from his tool belt. He didn't really have time, but he unlocked Groucho's middle drawer and stared at the two precious objects inside: a bronze astrolabe he'd picked up in Bologna, and a fist-sized chunk of crystal from Ogygia. Leo hadn't figured out how to put the two things together yet, and it was driving him crazy.**

"Yeah, combining natural elements and machinery can be tricky. No wires or plugs or anything," Harley and the other children of the forge god mused.

**He'd been hoping to get some answers when they visited Ithaca. After all, it was the home of Odysseus, the dude who had constructed the astrolabe. But, judging from what Jason had said, those ruins hadn't held any answers for him – just a bunch of ill-tempered ghouls and ghosts.**

"My home," muttered Odysseus, "_desecrated._"

**Anyway, Odysseus never got the astrolabe to work. He hadn't had a crystal to use as a homing beacon. Leo did. He would have to succeed where the cleverest demigod of all time had failed.**

"Oof."

**Just Leo's luck. A super-hot immortal girl was waiting for him on Ogygia, but he couldn't figure out how to wire a stupid chunk of rock into the three-thousand-year-old navigation device. Some problems even duct tape couldn't solve.**

"Yeah I would have guessed duct tape too," another demigod laughed.

**Leo closed the drawer and locked it.**

**His eyes drifted to the bulletin board above his worktable, where two pictures hung side by side. The first was the old crayon drawing he'd made when he was seven years old – a diagram of a flying ship he'd seen in his dreams. The second was a charcoal sketch Hazel had recently made for him.**

**Hazel Levesque … that girl was something.**

"Thanks!"

**As soon as Leo rejoined the crew in Malta, she'd known right away that Leo was hurting inside. The first chance she got, after all that mess in the House of Hades, she'd marched into Leo's cabin and said, 'Spill.'**

**Hazel was a good listener. Leo told her the whole story. Later that evening, Hazel came back with her sketch pad and her charcoal pencils. 'Describe her,' she insisted. 'Every detail.'**

**It felt a little weird helping Hazel make a portrait of Calypso – as if he were talking to a police artist: Yes, officer, that's the girl who stole my heart! Sounded like a freaking country song.**

"It does sound a bit like a country song," Percy laughed.

"I could write it!" exclaimed Apollo. "If only I knew what a country song was…"

"I got you, dad." said Will. He thought for a moment.

"Actually wait nevermind my songs are terrible."

**But describing Calypso had been easy. Leo couldn't close his eyes without seeing her.**

Aphrodite sighed.

**Now her likeness gazed back at him from the bulletin board – her almond-shaped eyes, her pouty lips, her long straight hair swept over one shoulder of her sleeveless d**

**ress. He could almost smell her cinnamon fragrance. Her knitted brow and the downward turn of her mouth seemed to say, Leo Valdez, you are so full of it.**

"Well she never did that to _me,_" muttered Odysseus.

**Dang, he loved that woman!**

Aphrodite giggled again.

"Masochist much?" whispered Annabeth to Leo with a sly grin on her face.

**Leo had pinned her portrait next to the drawing of the Argo II to remind himself that sometimes visions do come true. As a little kid, he'd dreamed about a flying ship. Eventually he built it. Now he would build a way to get back to Calypso.**

**The hum of the ship's engines changed to a lower pitch. Over the cabin loudspeaker, Festus's voice creaked and squeaked.**

'**Yeah, thanks, buddy,' Leo said. 'On my way.'**

**The ship was descending, which meant Leo's projects would have to wait.**

'**Sit tight, Sunshine,' he told Calypso's picture. 'I'll get back to you, just like I promised.'**

"But you can't do that," protested Poseidon.

"Watch me!"

**Leo could imagine her response: I am not waiting for you, Leo Valdez. I am not in love with you. And I certainly don't believe your foolish promises!**

"They're so perfect together!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

**The thought made him smile. He slipped his keys back into his tool belt and headed for the mess hall.**

**The other six demigods were eating breakfast.**

**Once upon a time, Leo would have worried about all of them being together belowdecks with nobody at the helm, but ever since Piper had permanently woken up Festus with her charmspeak – a feat Leo still did not understand – the dragon figurehead had been more than capable of running the Argo II by himself. Festus could navigate, check the radar, make a blueberry smoothie and spew white-hot jets of fire at invaders – simultaneously – without even blowing a circuit.**

"How did you do that?" asked Nyssa. "It shouldn't have worked like that…"

"Yeah I don't know either," Piper replied.

Aphrodite interjected, "Don't you know? Love transcends physical boundaries. You all loved the machine, and so your powers worked!"

"So Piper could use her powers on say… this rock if it was loved enough?" smirked Travis.

"Shut up!" she growled.

**Besides, they had Buford the Wonder Table as backup.**

"Mechanical table," Leo coughed as explanation to all the questioning gazes.

**After Coach Hedge left on his shadow-travel expedition, Leo had decided that his three-legged table could do just as good a job as their 'adult chaperone'. He had laminated Buford's tabletop with a magic scroll that projected a pint-sized holographic simulation of Coach Hedge. Mini-Hedge would stomp around on Buford's top, randomly saying things like 'CUT THAT OUT!' 'I'M GONNA KILL YOU!' and the ever-popular 'PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!'**

"I bet that last one was because of us," Percy slyly grinned at Annabeth. She buried her head in her hands in response.

**Today, Buford was manning the helm. If Festus's flames didn't scare away the monsters, Buford's holographic Hedge definitely would.**

"Definitely! I'm a very scary goat!"

**Leo stood in the doorway of the mess hall, taking in the scene around the dining table. It wasn't often he got to see all his friends together.**

**Percy was eating a huge stack of blue pancakes (what was his deal with blue food?) while Annabeth chided him for pouring on too much syrup.**

"My deal with blue food is on a need-to-know basis," said Percy matter-of-factly.

'**You're drowning them!' she complained.**

'**Hey, I'm a Poseidon kid,' he said. 'I can't drown. And neither can my pancakes.'**

"That's not how it _works_," groaned Annabeth.

**To their left, Frank and Hazel used their cereal bowls to flatten out a map of Greece. They looked over it, their heads close together. Every once in a while Frank's hand would cover Hazel's, just sweet and natural like they were an old married couple, and Hazel didn't even look flustered, which was real progress for a girl from the 1940s. Until recently, if somebody said gosh darn, she would nearly faint.**

"Gosh darn!" screamed Connor and Travis in unison. Hazel jumped in shock.

**At the head of the table, Jason sat uncomfortably with his T-shirt rolled up to his ribcage as Nurse Piper changed his bandages.**

'**Hold still,' she said. 'I know it hurts.'**

'**It's just cold,' he said.**

**Leo could hear the pain in his voice. That stupid gladius blade had pierced him all the way through. The entrance wound on his back was an ugly shade of purple and it steamed. Probably not a good sign.**

"Definitely not," agreed Apollo.

**Piper tried to stay positive, but privately she had told Leo how worried she was. Ambrosia, nectar and mortal medicine could only help so much. A deep cut from Celestial bronze or Imperial gold could literally dissolve a demigod's essence from the inside out. Jason might get better. He claimed he felt better. But Piper wasn't so sure.**

"Divine metals wound more than the body. They also wound the soul," Apollo mused.

"Yeah we know that _now_."

**Too bad Jason wasn't a metal automaton. At least then Leo would have some idea of how to help his best friend. But with humans … Leo felt helpless. They broke way too easily.**

"They sure do."

**He loved his friends. He'd do anything for them. But as he looked at the six of them – three couples, all focused on each other – he thought about the warning from Nemesis, the revenge goddess: You will not find a place among your brethren. You will always be the seventh wheel.**

"Aw, Leo. That's not true," Piper said sadly, before turning and giving him a hug.

**He was starting to think Nemesis was right. Assuming Leo lived long enough, assuming his crazy secret plan worked, his destiny was with somebody else, on an island that no man ever found twice.**

"It kind of is though," Leo replied.

**But for now the best he could do was to follow his old rule: Keep moving. Don't get bogged down. Don't think about the bad stuff. Smile and joke even when you don't feel like it. Especially when you don't feel like it.**

'**What's up, guys?' He strolled into the mess hall. 'Aw, yes to brownies!'**

Everyone was a little bit sad now that they knew more about Leo.

**He grabbed the last one – from a special sea-salt recipe they'd picked up from Aphros the fish centaur at the bottom of the Atlantic.**

"Ichthyocentaur." groaned Poseidon. "They are ichthyocentaurs."

**The intercom crackled. Buford's Mini-Hedge yelled over the speakers, 'PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!'**

**Everyone jumped. Hazel ended up five feet away from Frank. Percy spilled syrup in his orange juice. Jason awkwardly wriggled back into his T-shirt, and Frank turned into a bulldog.**

"You're-" asked Poseidon.

"Yeah." Frank said.

**Piper glared at Leo. 'I thought you were getting rid of that stupid hologram.'**

'**Hey, Buford's just saying good morning. He loves his hologram! Besides, we all miss the coach. And Frank makes a cute bulldog.'**

**Frank morphed back into a burly, grumpy Chinese Canadian dude. 'Just sit down, Leo. We've got stuff to talk about.'**

"Where is Canada? Is it a future country?" asked Athena.

"Yeah," sighed Frank.

**Leo squeezed in between Jason and Hazel. He figured they were the least likely to smack him if he made bad jokes. He took a bite of his brownie and grabbed a pack of Italian junk food – Fonzies – to round out his balanced breakfast. He'd become kind of addicted to the things since buying some in Bologna. They were cheesy and corny – two of his favourite qualities.**

"Oh my _gods_," sighed Annabeth.

'**So …' Jason winced as he leaned forward. 'We're going to stay airborne and drop anchor as close as we can to Olympia. It's further inland than I'd like – about five miles – but we don't have much choice. According to Juno, we have to find the goddess of victory and, um … subdue her.'**

Artemis gagged.

**Uncomfortable silence around the table.**

**With the new drapes covering the holographic walls, the mess hall was darker and gloomier than it should've been, but that couldn't be helped. Ever since the Kerkopes dwarf twins had short-circuited the walls, the real-time video feed from Camp Half-Blood often fuzzed out, changing into playback of extreme dwarf close-ups – red whiskers, nostrils and bad dental work. It wasn't helpful when you were trying to eat or have a serious conversation about the fate of the world.**

"Aw I hate those guys," groaned Heracles.

**Percy sipped his syrup-flavoured orange juice. He seemed to find it okay. 'I'm cool with fighting the occasional goddess, but isn't Nike one of the good ones? I mean, personally, I like victory. I can't get enough of it.'**

"We like victory too," said the Nike campers.

**Annabeth drummed her fingers on the table. 'It does seem strange. I understand why Nike would be in Olympia – home of the Olympics and all that. The contestants sacrificed to her. Greeks and Romans worshipped her there for, like, twelve hundred years, right?'**

"That's a long time."

'**Almost to the end of the Roman Empire,' Frank agreed. 'Romans called her Victoria, but same difference. Everybody loved her. Who doesn't like to win? Not sure why we would have to subdue her.'**

**Jason frowned. A wisp of steam curled from the wound under his shirt.**

"Uh oh."

'**All I know … the ghoul Antinous said, Victory runs rampant in Olympia. Juno warned us that we could never heal the rift between the Greeks and Romans unless we defeated victory.'**

'**How do we defeat victory?' Piper wondered. 'Sounds like one of those impossible riddles.'**

Athena was already deep in thought.

'**Like making stones fly,' Leo said, 'or eating only one Fonzie.'**

**He popped a handful into his mouth.**

**Hazel wrinkled her nose. 'That stuff is going to kill you.'**

'**You kidding? So many preservatives in these things, I'll live forever.**

Will put his head in his hands.

**But, hey, about this victory goddess being popular and great – Don't you guys remember what her kids are like at Camp Half-Blood?'**

**Hazel and Frank had never been to Camp Half-Blood, but the others nodded gravely.**

'**He's got a point,' Percy said. 'Those kids in Cabin Seventeen – they're super-competitive. When it comes to capture the flag, they're almost worse than the Ares kids. Uh, no offence, Frank.'**

"What's wrong with the Ares kids," growled Clarisse.

**Frank shrugged. 'You're saying Nike has a dark side?'**

'**Her kids sure do,' Annabeth said. 'They never turn down a challenge. They have to be number one at everything. If their mom is that intense …'**

'**Whoa.' Piper put her hands on the table like the ship was rocking. 'Guys, all the gods are split between their Greek and Roman aspects, right? If Nike's that way and she's the goddess of victory –'**

'**She'd be really conflicted,' Annabeth said. 'She'd want one side or the other to win so she could declare a victor. She'd literally be fighting with herself.'**

"Ugh," groaned Hades.

**Hazel nudged her cereal bowl across the map of Greece. 'But we don't want one side or the other to win. We've got to get the Greeks and Romans on the same team.'**

'**Maybe that's the problem,' Jason said. 'If the goddess of victory is running rampant, torn between Greek and Roman, she might make it impossible to bring the two camps together.'**

'**How?' Leo asked. 'Start a flame war on Twitter?'**

All the future demigods burst out laughing, while everyone else looked very confused.

**Percy stabbed at his pancakes. 'Maybe she's like Ares. That guy can spark a fight just by walking into a crowded room. If Nike radiates competitive vibes or something, she could aggravate the whole Greek–Roman rivalry big-time.'**

**Frank pointed at Percy. 'You remember that old sea god in Atlanta – Phorcys? He said that Gaia's plans always have lots of layers. This could be part of the giants' strategy – keep the two camps divided; keep the gods divided. If that's the case, we can't let Nike play us against each other. We should send a landing party of four – two Greeks, two Romans. The balance might help keep her balanced.'**

**Listening to Zhang, Leo had one of those double-take moments. He couldn't believe how much the guy had changed in the last few weeks.**

**Frank wasn't just taller and buffer. He was more confident now, more willing to take charge. Maybe that was because his magic firewood lifeline was safely stashed away in a flameproof pouch, or maybe it was because he'd commanded a zombie legion and been promoted to praetor. Whatever the case, Leo had trouble seeing him as the same klutzy dude who'd once iguanaed his way out of Chinese handcuffs.**

Frank shifted down in his seat a little in embarrassment.

'**I think Frank is right,' Annabeth said. 'A party of four. We'll have to be careful who goes. We don't want to do anything that might make the goddess, um, more unstable.'**

'**I'll go,' Piper said. 'I can try charmspeaking.'**

**Worry lines deepened around Annabeth's eyes. 'Not this time, Piper. Nike is all about competition. Aphrodite … well, she is too, in her own way. I think Nike might see you as a threat.'**

"Yeah I guess so," Aphrodite considered.

**Once, Leo might have made a joke about that. Piper a threat? The girl was like a sister to him, but, if he needed help beat**

**ing up a gang of thugs or subduing a victory goddess, Piper was not the first person he'd turn to.**

"Wow thanks Leo."

**Recently, though … well, Piper may not have changed as obviously as Frank, but she had changed. She had stabbed Khione the snow goddess in the chest. She had defeated the Boreads. She'd slashed up a flock of wild harpies singlehandedly. As for her charmspeak, she'd become so powerful it made Leo nervous. If she told him to eat his vegetables, he might actually do it.**

Piper snorted.

**Annabeth's words didn't seem to upset her. Piper just nodded and scanned the group. 'Who should go, then?'**

'**Jason and Percy shouldn't go together,' Annabeth said. 'Jupiter and Poseidon – bad combination. Nike could start you two fighting easily.'**

**Percy gave her a sideways smile. 'Yeah, we can't have another incident like in Kansas. I might kill my bro Jason.'**

'**Or I might kill my bro Percy,' Jason said amiably.**

'**Which proves my point,' Annabeth said. 'We also shouldn't send Frank and me together. Mars and Athena – that would be just as bad.'**

'**Okay,' Leo broke in. 'So Percy and me for the Greeks. Frank and Hazel for the Romans. Is that the ultimate non-competitive dream team or what?'**

"Yes I assume so," considered Athena.

**Annabeth and Frank exchanged war-godly looks.**

'**It could work,' Frank decided. 'I mean, no combination is going to be perfect, but Poseidon, Hephaestus, Pluto, Mars … I don't see any huge antagonism there.'**

**Hazel traced her finger along the map of Greece. 'I still wish we could've gone through the Gulf of Corinth. I was hoping we could visit Delphi, maybe get some advice. Plus it's such a long way around the Peloponnese.'**

'**Yeah.' Leo's heart sank when he looked at how much coastline they still had to navigate. 'It's July twenty-second already. Counting today, only ten days until –'**

'**I know,' Jason said. 'But Juno was clear. The shorter way would have been suicide.'**

'**And as for Delphi …' Piper leaned towards the map. The blue harpy feather in her hair swung like a pendulum. 'What's going on there? If Apollo doesn't have his Oracle any more …'**

"What! No oracle! How will I do _anything_!" exclaimed Apollo.

**Percy grunted. 'Probably something to do with that creep Octavian. Maybe he was so bad at telling the future that he broke Apollo's powers.'**

Many of the legionnaires chuckled while Octavian looked affronted.

**Jason managed a smile, though his eyes were cloudy from pain. 'Hopefully we can find Apollo and Artemis. Then you can ask him yourself. Juno said the twins might be willing to help us.'**

'**A lot of unanswered questions,' Frank muttered. 'A lot of miles to cover before we get to Athens.'**

'**First things first,' Annabeth said. 'You guys have to find Nike and figure out how to subdue her … whatever Juno meant by that. I still don't understand how you defeat a goddess who controls victory. Seems impossible.'**

**Leo started to grin. He couldn't help it. Sure, they only had ten days to stop the giants from waking Gaia. Sure, he could die before dinnertime. But he loved being told that something was impossible. It was like someone handing him a lemon meringue pie and telling him not to throw it. He just couldn't resist the challenge.**

Everyone muttered in agreement.

'**We'll see about that.' He rose to his feet. 'Let me get my collection of grenades and I'll meet you guys on deck!'**

"You have a collection of grenades?" asked Hephaestus.

"Oh yeah," Leo replied. "I'll read next." He grabbed the book and read,

"Leo X"


	11. Leo X

**Leo X**

'**SMART CALL BACK THERE,' Percy said, 'choosing the air-conditioning.'**

"What is air conditioning?" asked Demeter.

"Simply the greatest invention _ever_," Percy replied.

Leo frowned. "It is not. That title belongs to _Archimedes._" Hephaestus nodded in agreement.

"Love that dude."

"I still don't know what air conditioning is," Demeter frowned.

**He and Leo had just searched the museum. Now they were sitting on a bridge that spanned the Kladeos River, their feet dangling over the water as they waited for Frank and Hazel to finish scouting the ruins.**

**To their left, the Olympic valley shimmered in the afternoon heat. To their right, the visitors' lot was crammed with tour buses. Good thing the Argo II was moored a hundred feet in the air, because they never would've found parking.**

**Leo skipped a stone across the river. He wished Hazel and Frank would get back. He felt awkward hanging out with Percy.**

**For one thing, he wasn't sure what kind of small talk to make with a guy who'd recently come back from Tartarus. Catch that last episode of Doctor Who? Oh, right. You were trudging through the Pit of Eternal Damnation!**

"You went to Tartarus!" gasped Zeus. "How? No one has ever survived before!"

"I don't know…" mumbled Percy, suddenly awkward with all the attention. "Got lucky, I guess…"

**Percy had been intimidating enough before – summoning hurricanes, duelling pirates, killing giants in the Colosseum …**

"Wow…" muttered Apollo.

**Now … well, after what happened in Tartarus, it seemed like Percy had graduated to a totally different level of butt-kickery.**

**Leo had trouble even thinking of him as part of the same camp. The two of them had never been at Camp Half-Blood at the same time. Percy's leather necklace had four beads for four completed summers. Leo's leather necklace had exactly none.**

"It's ok Leo, you're still part of the family," smiled Will.

**The only thing they had in common was Calypso, and every time Leo thought about that he wanted to punch Percy in the face.**

"Sorry?" squeaked Percy.

**Leo kept thinking he should bring it up, just to clear the air, but the timing never seemed right. And, as the days went by, the subject got harder and harder to broach.**

'**What?' Percy asked.**

**Leo stirred. 'What, what?'**

'**You were staring at me, like, angry.'**

'**Was I?' Leo tried to muster a joke, or at least a smile, but he couldn't. 'Um, sorry.'**

**Percy gazed at the river. 'I suppose we need to talk.' He opened his hand and the stone Leo had skipped flew out of the stream, right into Percy's palm.**

**Oh, Leo thought, we're showing off now?**

**He considered shooting a column of fire at the nearest tour bus and blowing up the gas tank, but he decided that might be a tad dramatic. 'Maybe we should talk. But not –'**

"A tad?" said Athena sarcastically.

'**Guys!' Frank stood at the far end of the parking lot, waving at them to come over. Next to him, Hazel sat astride her horse Arion, who had appeared unannounced as soon as they'd landed.**

"Arion!" exclaimed Poseidon. "I wonder what he's up to these days…"

"Excuse me who's Arion?" asked a camper.

"My horse son."

**Saved by the Zhang, Leo thought.**

**He and Percy jogged over to meet their friends.**

'**This place is huge,' Frank reported. 'The ruins stretch from the river to the base of that mountain over there, about half a kilometre.'**

'**How far is that in regular measurements?' Percy asked.**

"Yeah," mostly everyone agreed. "Meters suck."

"They do not!" Frank yelled.

"I agree," Nico said. "Kilometers make sense."

"Why do you know meters?" asked a camper. Nico stared at him dumbfoundedly.

"I'm Italian."

**Frank rolled his eyes. 'That is a regular measurement in Canada and the rest of the world. Only you Americans –'**

'**About five or six football fields,' Hazel interceded, feeding Arion a big chunk of gold.**

**Percy spread his hands. 'That's all you needed to say.'**

"_Exactly_."

'**Anyway,' Frank continued, 'from overhead, I didn't see anything suspicious.'**

'**Neither did I,' Hazel said. 'Arion took me on a complete loop around the perimeter. A lot of tourists, but no crazy goddess.'**

**The big stallion nickered and tossed his head, his neck muscles rippling under his butterscotch coat.**

'**Man, your horse can cuss.' Percy shook his head. 'He doesn't think much of Olympia.'**

**For once, Leo agreed with the horse. He didn't like the idea of tromping through fields full of ruins under a blazing sun, shoving his way through hordes of sweaty tourists while searching for a split-personality victory goddess. Besides, Frank had already flown over the whole valley as an eagle. If his sharp eyes hadn't seen anything, maybe there was nothing to see.**

**On the other hand, Leo's tool-belt pockets were full of dangerous toys. He would hate to go home without blowing anything up.**

'**So we blunder around together,' he said, 'and let trouble find us. It's always worked before.'**

"Definitely," everyone agreed.

"My favorite tactic!" Thalia exclaimed.

**They poked about for a while, avoiding tour groups and ducking from one patch of shade to the next. Not for the first time, Leo was struck by how similar Greece was to his home state of Texas – the low hills, the scrubby trees, the drone of cicadas and the oppressive summer heat. Switch out the ancient columns and ruined temples for cows and barbed wire, and Leo would've felt right at home.**

"No way I'm from Texas too!" yelled a legionnaire.

**Frank found a tourist pamphlet (seriously, that dude would read the ingredients on a soup can) and gave them a running commentary on what was what.**

"I only did that _once_," muttered Frank.

'**This is the Propylon.' He waved towards a stone path lined with crumbling columns. 'One of the main**

**gates into the Olympic valley.'**

'**Rubble!' said Leo.**

The gods gasped, affronted.

'**And over there –' Frank pointed to a square foundation that looked like the patio for a Mexican restaurant – 'is the Temple of Hera, one of the oldest structures here.'**

'**More rubble!' Leo said.**

Hera's face turned red, and she started muttering to herself.

"_Rubble…_"

'**And that round bandstand-looking thing – that's the Philipeon, dedicated to Philip of Macedonia.'**

'**Even more rubble! First-rate rubble!'**

**Hazel, who was still riding Arion, kicked Leo in the arm. 'Doesn't anything impress you?'**

**Leo glanced up. Her curly gold-brown hair and golden eyes matched her helmet and sword so well she might've been engineered from Imperial gold. Leo doubted Hazel would consider that a compliment, but, as far as humans went, Hazel was first-rate craftsmanship.**

"Thank you?" Hazel said confusedly, while Frank crossed his arms, a little jealous.

**Leo remembered their trip together through the House of Hades. Hazel had led him through that creepy maze of illusions. She'd made the sorceress Pasiphaë disappear through an imaginary hole in the floor. She'd battled the giant Clytius while Leo choked in the giant's cloud of darkness. She'd cut the chains binding the Doors of Death. Meanwhile Leo had done … well, pretty much nothing.**

"Shut up you did stuff too."

"OMG did Hazel say _shut up_ WOW I'm _scandalized, I-" _Leo was cut off by Hephaestus beginning to read again.

**He wasn't infatuated with Hazel any more. His heart was far away on the island of Ogygia. Still, Hazel Levesque impressed him – even when she wasn't sitting atop a scary immortal supersonic horse who cussed like a sailor.**

Frank relaxed a little bit.

**He didn't say any of this, but Hazel must have picked up on his thoughts. She looked away, flustered.**

**Happily oblivious, Frank continued his guided tour. 'And over there … oh.' He glanced at Percy. 'Uh, that semicircular depression in the hill, with the niches … that's a nymphaeum, built in Roman times.'**

**Percy's face turned the colour of limeade. 'Here's an idea: let's not go there.'**

"Now that sounds like a story," asked Hermes.

"Here's an idea: let's keep reading," Percy said.

**Leo had heard all about his near-death experience in the nymphaeum in Rome with Jason and Piper. 'I love that idea.'**

"Oh."

**They kept walking.**

**Once in a while, Leo's hands drifted to his tool belt. Ever since the Kerkopes had stolen it in Bologna, he was scared he might get belt-jacked again, though he doubted any monster was as good at thievery as those dwarfs. He wondered how the little crud monkeys were doing in New York. He hoped they were still having fun harassing Romans, stealing lots of shiny zippers and causing legionnaires' trousers to fall down.**

"It wasn't fun," said the legionnaires.

'**This is the Pelopion,' Frank said, pointing to another fascinating pile of stones.**

'**Come on, Zhang,' Leo said. 'Pelopion isn't even a word. What was it – a sacred spot for plopping?'**

Zeus growled.

**Frank looked offended. 'It's the burial site of Pelops. This whole part of Greece, the Peloponnese, was named after him.'**

**Leo resisted the urge to throw a grenade in Frank's face. 'I suppose I should know who Pelops was?'**

"Oh the horror!" exclaimed Athena.

'**He was a prince, won his wife in a chariot race. Supposedly he started the Olympic games in honour of that.'**

**Hazel sniffed. 'How romantic. "Nice wife you have, Prince Pelops." "Thanks. I won her in a chariot race." '**

"I know! It's a terrible love story!" Aphrodite said.

**Leo didn't see how any of this was helping them find the victory goddess. At the moment, the only victory he wanted was to vanquish an ice-cold drink and maybe some nachos.**

"Nachos are the _best_!"

**Still … the further they got into the ruins, the more uneasy he felt. He flashed back to one of his earliest memories – his babysitter Tía Callida, a.k.a. Hera, encouraging him to prod a poisonous snake with a stick when he was four years old. The psycho goddess told him it was good training for being a hero, and maybe she'd been right. These days Leo spent most of his time poking around until he found trouble.**

"_Hera_ was your babysitter?" shouted Thalia. "I feel sorry for you!"

"Hey, Juno's not that bad," Jason said. "She's my patron."

"Maybe Juno's not that bad baby bro but Hera broke my legs."

Jason looked shocked, his face flushed in embarrassment.

"Oh."

"You probably deserved it," sniffed Hera.

**He scanned the crowds of tourists, wondering if they were regular mortals or monsters in disguise, like those eidolons who'd chased them in Rome. Every so often he thought he saw a familiar face – his bully cousin, Raphael; his mean third-grade teacher, Mr Borquin; his abusive foster mom, Teresa – all kinds of people who had treated Leo like dirt.**

"Aww Leo…" Piper hugged him.

**Probably he just imagined their faces, but it made him edgy. He remembered how the goddess Nemesis had appeared as his Aunt Rosa, the person Leo most resented and wanted revenge on. He wondered if Nemesis was around here somewhere, watching to see what Leo would do. He still wasn't sure he'd paid his debt to that goddess. He suspected she wanted more suffering from him. Maybe today was the day.**

"You're in debt to Nemesis?" asked Hermes. "That can never work out good."

"I'm aware."

**They stopped at some wide steps leading to another ruined building – the Temple of Zeus, according to Frank.**

'**Used to be a huge gold-and-ivory statue of Zeus inside,' Zhang said. 'One of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Made by the same dude who did the Athena Parthenos.'**

"_Used to be!_" thundered Zeus.

'**Please tell me we don't have to find it,' Percy said. 'I've had enough huge magic statues for one trip.'**

'**Agreed.' Hazel patted Arion's flank, as the stallion was acting skittish.**

**Leo felt like whinnying and stomping his hooves, too. He was hot and agitated and hungry. He felt like they'd prodded the poisonous snake about as much as they could and the snake was about strike back. He wanted to call it a day and return to the ship before that happened.**

**Unfortunately, when Frank mentioned Temple of Zeus and statue, Leo's brain had made a connection. Against his better judgement, he shared it.**

'**Hey, Percy,' he said, 'remember that statue of Nike in the museum? The one that was all in pieces?'**

A vein stood out on Zeus' forehead. He gripped his bolt so hard his knuckles were white.

"_Pieces!_"

'**Yeah?'**

'**Didn't it used to stand here, at the Temple of Zeus? Feel free to tell me I'm wrong. I'd love to be wrong.'**

**Percy's hand went to his pocket. He slipped out his pen, Riptide. 'You're right. So if Nike was anywhere … this would be a good spot.'**

**Frank scanned their surroundings. 'I don't see anything.'**

'**What if we promoted, like, Adidas shoes?' Percy wondered. 'Would that make Nike mad enough to show up?'**

"We made this boy praetor…" muttered Reyna.

**Leo smiled nervously. Maybe he and Percy did share something else – a stupid sense of humour. 'Yeah, I bet that would totally be against her sponsorship deal. THOSE ARE NOT THE OFFICIAL SHOES OF THE OLYMPICS! YOU WILL DIE NOW!'**

"Percy…" groaned Annabeth.

**Hazel rolled her eyes. 'You're both impossible.'**

**Behind Leo, a thunderous voice shook the ruins: 'YOU WILL DIE NOW!'**

**Leo almost jumped out of his tool belt. He turned … and mentally kicked himself. He just had to invoke Adidas, the goddess of off-brand shoes.**

"The company is actually German…" Annabeth supplied.

**Towering over him in a golden chariot, with a spear aimed at his heart, was the goddess Nike.**

"Well at least the plan worked!" smiled Apollo. "And obviously you didn't die because you're here now! I can read next."

He grabbed the book, and read: "Leo XI"


	12. Leo XI

**XI**

**Leo**

**THE GOLD WINGS WERE OVERKILL.**

"They are _not_," sniffed Zeus

**Leo could dig the chariot and the two white horses. He was okay with Nike's glittering sleeveless dress (Calypso totally rocked that style, but that wasn't relevant) and Nike's piled-up braids of dark hair circled with a gilded laurel wreath.**

"Totally not relevant," grinned Piper.

"Shut up!" Leo yelled.

**Her expression was wide-eyed and a little crazy, like she'd just had twenty espressos and ridden a roller coaster, but that didn't bother Leo. He could even deal with the gold-tipped spear pointed at his chest.**

**But those wings – they were polished gold, right down to the last feather. Leo could admire the intricate workmanship, but it was too much, too bright, too flashy. If her wings had been solar panels, Nike would've produced enough energy to power Miami.**

"Miami is a large city, correct?" mused Athena.

'**Lady,' he said, 'could you fold your flappers, please? You're giving me a sunburn.'**

'**What?' Nike's head jerked towards him like a startled chicken's. 'Oh … my brilliant plumage. Very well. I suppose you can't die in glory if you are blinded and burned.'**

"She's kinda funny," whispered Travis to Connor, and then yelped when a Nike kid kicked him in the stomach.

**She tucked in her wings. The temperature dropped to a normal hundred-and-twenty-degree summer afternoon.**

"_Normal..._"

**Leo glanced at his friends. Frank stood very still, sizing up the goddess. His backpack hadn't yet morphed into a bow and quiver, which was probably prudent. He couldn't have been too freaked out, because he'd avoided turning into a giant goldfish.**

"I only did it _once_, Leo, and you weren't even there," growled Frank.

Leo laughed. "It was still funny though!"

**Hazel was having trouble with Arion. The roan stallion nickered and bucked, avoiding eye contact with the white horses pulling Nike's chariot.**

"Yes!" boomed Zeus. "That is because the stallions of Nike are too great for any simply _enhanced_ horse to look at!"

"Are you calling my child simple?" shouted Poseidon in response.

"Your child is a horse!"

"And your child is an idiot!" Poseidon thrust his hand out towards Heracles, who bristled at the mention.

Percy leaned over to Annabeth.

"Is any of this true?" he asked.

"Except for the Heracles part, and the… you know… horse-child part, no."

"Gotcha."

**As for Percy, he held his magic ballpoint pen like he was trying to decide whether to bust out some sword moves or autograph Nike's chariot.**

"I'll take your autograph!" yelled Connor.

"Yes Mr. Jackson, sign my forehead!" clamored Travis.

**Nobody stepped forward to talk. Leo kind of missed having Piper and Annabeth with them. They were good at the whole talking thing.**

**He decided somebody had better say something before they all died in glory.**

'**So!' He pointed his index fingers at Nike. 'I didn't get the briefing, and I'm pretty sure the information wasn't covered in Frank's pamphlet. Could you tell me what's going on here?'**

"You _fingergunned_ at the _goddess of victory_," said Piper, appalled.

"Absolutely."

**Nike's wide-eyed stare unnerved him. Was Leo's nose on fire? That happened sometimes when he got stressed.**

'**We must have victory!' the goddess shrieked. 'The contest must be decided! You have come here to determine the winner, yes?'**

**Frank cleared his throat. 'Are you Nike or Victoria?'**

"Oh my gods, Frank!" yelled like everybody. "Are you serious?"

'**Argghh!' The goddess clutched the side of her head. Her horses reared, causing Arion to do the same.**

**The goddess shuddered and split into two separate images, which reminded Leo – ridiculously – of when he used to lie on the floor in his apartment as a kid and play with the coiled doorstop on the skirting board. He would pull it back and let it fly: sproing! The stopper would shudder back and forth so fast it looked like it was splitting into two separate coils.**

Basically every demigod in the room could relate, because a - classic childhood experience, and b - ADHD.

Percy gasped. "I do that," he said.

**That's what Nike looked like: a divine doorstop, splitting in two.**

Thalia snorted.

**On the left was the first version: glittery sleeveless dress, dark hair circled with laurels, golden wings folded behind her. On the right was a different version, dressed for war in a Roman breastplate and greaves. Short auburn hair peeked out from the rim of a tall helmet. Her wings were feathery white, her dress purple, and the shaft of her spear was fixed with a plate-sized Roman insignia – a golden SPQR in a laurel wreath.**

"How could she have half a helmet and make it stay on?" wondered Frank.

"Magic, obviously," groaned Nico.

'**I am Nike!' cried the image on the left.**

'**I am Victoria!' cried the one on the right.**

**For the first time, Leo understood the old saying his abuelo used to use: talking out of the side of your mouth. This goddess was literally saying two different things at once. She kept shuddering and splitting, making Leo dizzy. He was tempted to get out his tools and adjust the idle on her carburettor, because that much vibration would make her engine fly apart.**

Hephaestus raised his hand above his head in acknowledgement.

'**I am the decider of victory!' Nike screamed. 'Once I stood here at the corner of Zeus's temple, venerated by all! I oversaw the games of Olympia. Offerings from every city-state were piled at my feet!'**

'**Games are irrelevant!' yelled Victoria. 'I am the goddess of success in battle! Roman generals worshipped me! Augustus himself erected my altar in the Senate House!'**

"But you guys have war games now," asked Percy.

"Yeah, because they're _war_ games," Octavian sniffed.

"No, Octavian, it's because we're not stupid, games are fun," interrupted Reyna. Octavian frowned and muttered under his breath.

'**Ahhhh!' both voices screamed in agony. 'We must decide! We must have victory!'**

**Arion bucked so violently that Hazel had to slide off his back to avoid getting thrown. Before she could calm him down, the horse disappeared, leaving a vapour trail through the ruins.**

"Your child is a coward," whispered Zeus.

"YOURS IS TOO" whispered Poseidon back, vehemently.

Hades groaned. "Keep reading!"

'**Nike,' Hazel said, stepping forward slowly, 'you're confused, like all the gods. The Greeks and Romans are on the verge of war. It's causing your two aspects to clash.'**

'**I know that!' The goddess shook her spear, the tip rubber-banding into two points. 'I cannot abide unresolved conflict! Who is stronger? Who is the winner?'**

'**Lady, nobody's the winner,' Leo said. 'If that war happens, everybody loses.'**

'**No winner?' Nike looked so shocked, Leo was pretty sure his nose must be on fire. 'There is always a winner! One winner. Everyone else is a loser! Otherwise victory is meaningless. I suppose you want me to give certificates to all the contestants? Little plastic trophies to every single athlete or soldier for participation? Should we all line up and shake hands and tell each other, Good game? No! Victory must be real. It must be earned. That means it must be rare and difficult, against steep odds, and defeat must be the other possibility.'**

"Yeah!" cheered the Nike campers.

**The goddess's two horses nipped at each other, as if getting into the spirit.**

'**Uh … okay,' Leo said. 'I can tell you've got strong feelings about that. But the real war is against Gaia.'**

'**He's right,' Hazel said. 'Nike, you were Zeus's charioteer in the last war with the giants, weren't you?'**

'**Of course!'**

'**Then you know Gaia is the real enemy. We need your help to defeat her. The war isn't between the Greeks and Romans.'**

"Yeah, _Octavian_."

**Victoria roared, 'The Greeks must perish!'**

'**Victory or death!' Nike wailed. 'One side must**

**prevail!'**

**Frank grunted. 'I get enough of this from my dad screaming in my head.'**

"I remember when that happened to me," mentioned Zeus. "Except it was my daughter, and it was because I had trapped her mother inside of my head forever."

"Thanks for sharing, Zeus!" cheered Percy sarcastically.

**Victoria glared down at him. 'A child of Mars, are you? A praetor of Rome? No true Roman would spare the Greeks. I cannot abide to be split and confused – I cannot think straight! Kill them! Win!'**

'**Not happening,' Frank said, though Leo noticed Zhang's right eye was twitching.**

**Leo was struggling, too. Nike was sending off waves of tension, setting his nerves on fire. He felt like he was crouched at the starting line, waiting for someone to yell 'Go!' He had the irrational desire to wrap his hands around Frank's neck, which was stupid, since his hands wouldn't even fit around Frank's neck.**

'**Look, Miss Victory …' Percy tried for a smile. 'We don't want to interrupt your crazy time. Maybe you can just finish this conversation with yourself and we'll come back later, with, um, some bigger weapons and possibly some sedatives.'**

**The goddess brandished her spear. 'You will determine the matter once and for all! Today, now, you will decide the victor! Four of you? Excellent! We will have teams. Perhaps girls versus boys!'**

"I would love that," muttered Thalia.

**Hazel said, 'Uh … no.'**

'**Shirts versus skins!'**

'**Definitely no,' said Hazel.**

'**Greeks versus Romans!' Nike cried. 'Yes, of course! Two and two. The last demigod standing wins. The others will die gloriously.'**

**A competitive urge pulsed through Leo's body. It took all of his effort not to reach in his tool belt, grab a mallet and whop Hazel and Frank upside their heads.**

**He realized how right Annabeth had been not to send anyone whose parents had natural rivalries. If Jason were here, he and Percy would probably already be on the ground, bashing each other's brains out.**

"And I would hate to kill my favorite bro Percy!" beamed Jason.

"And I would hate to kill my bro Jason!"

"But if we did I would definitely win," said Jason again, his smile turning a little darker.

"Oh no I would win," Percy frowned.

"BOYS," yelled Annabeth. "Honestly, you're both children. Please keep reading."

**He forced his fists to unclench. 'Look, lady, we're not going to go all Hunger Games on each other. Isn't going to happen.'**

'**But you will win a fabulous honour!' Nike reached into a basket at her side and produced a wreath of thick green laurels. 'This crown of leaves could be yours! You can wear it on your head! Think of the glory!'**

"I want a leaf hat," gasped Connor.

'**Leo's right,' Frank said, though his eyes were fixed on the wreath. His expression was a little too greedy for Leo's taste. 'We don't fight each other. We fight the giants. You should help us.'**

'**Very well!' The goddess raised the laurel wreath in one hand and her spear in the other.**

**Percy and Leo exchanged looks.**

'**Uh … does that mean you'll join us?' Percy asked. 'You'll help us fight the giants?'**

'**That will be part of the prize,' Nike said. 'Whoever wins, I will consider you an ally. We will fight the giants together, and I will bestow victory upon you. But there can only be one winner. The others must be defeated, killed, destroyed utterly. So what will it be, demigods? Will you succeed in your quest, or will you cling to your namby-pamby ideas of friendship and everybody wins participation awards?'**

The Nike kids gagged. "Participation awards!" they groaned.

**Percy uncapped his pen. Riptide grew into a Celestial bronze sword. Leo was worried he might turn it on them. Nike's aura was that hard to resist.**

**Instead, Percy pointed his blade at Nike. 'What if we fight you instead?'**

'**Ha!' Nike's eyes gleamed. 'If you refuse to fight each other, you shall be persuaded!'**

**Nike spread her golden wings. Four metal feathers fluttered down, two on either side of the chariot. The feathers twirled like gymnasts, growing larger, sprouting arms and legs, until they touched the ground as four metallic, human-sized replicas of the goddess, each armed with a golden spear and a Celestial bronze laurel wreath that looked suspiciously like a barbed-wire Frisbee.**

"I like frisbee," Travis gasped.

'**To the stadium!' the goddess cried. 'You have five minutes to prepare. Then blood shall be spilled!'**

**Leo was about to say, What if we refuse to go to the stadium?**

**He got his answer before asking the question.**

'**Run!' Nike bellowed. 'To the stadium with you, or my Nikai will kill you where you stand!'**

**The metal ladies unhinged their jaws and blasted out a sound like a Super Bowl crowd mixed with feedback. They shook their spears and charged the demigods.**

"Loud music is bad for you," mentioned Apollo. Percy looked down, suddenly seized by the memory of Michael Yew. It had been so long since he'd thought about him. Somehow sensing his discomfort, Annabeth took his hand.

**It wasn't Leo's finest moment. Panic seized him, and he took off. His only comfort was that his friends did, too – and they weren't the cowardly type.**

"Thanks Leo!" Hazel beamed.

**The four metal women swept behind them in a loose semicircle, herding them to the northeast. All the tourists had vanished. Perhaps they'd fled to the air-conditioned comfort of the museum, or maybe Nike had somehow forced them to leave.**

**The demigods ran, tripping over stones, leaping over crumbled walls, dodging around columns and informational placards. Behind them, Nike's chariot wheels rumbled and her horses whinnied.**

**Every time Leo thought about slowing down, the metal ladies screamed again – what had Nike called them? Nikai? Nikettes? – filling Leo with terror.**

**He hated being filled with terror. It was embarrassing.**

'**There!' Frank sprinted towards a kind of trench between two earthen walls with a stone archway above. It reminded Leo of those tunnels that football teams run through when they enter the field. 'That's the entrance to the old Olympic stadium. It's called the crypt!'**

'**Not a good name!' Leo yelled.**

'**Why are we going there?' Percy gasped. 'If that's where she wants us –'**

**The Nikettes screamed again and all rational thought abandoned Leo. He ran for the tunnel.**

**When they reached the arch, Hazel yelled, 'Hold it!'**

**They stumbled to a stop. Percy doubled over, wheezing. Leo had noticed that Percy seemed to get winded more easily these days – probably because of that nasty acid air he'd been forced to breathe in Tartarus.**

Percy and Annabeth grimaced in remembrance, and Thalia looked at them sadly.

**Frank peered back the way they'd come. 'I don't see them any more. They disappeared.'**

'**Did they give up?' Percy asked hopefully.**

**Leo scanned the ruins. 'Nah. They just herded us where they wanted us. What were those things, anyway? The Nikettes, I mean.'**

'**Nikettes?' Frank scratched his head. 'I think it was Nikai, plural, like victories.'**

'**Yes.' Hazel looked deep in thought, running her hands along the stone archway. 'In some legends, Nike had an army of little victories she could send all over the world to do her bidding.'**

'**Like Santa's elves,' Percy said. 'Except evil. And metal. And really loud.'**

**Hazel pressed her fingers against the arch, as if taking its pulse. Beyond the narrow tunnel, the earthen walls opened into a long field with gently rising slopes on either side, like seating for spectators.**

**Leo guessed it would have been an open-air stadium back in the day – big enough for discus-throwing, javelin-catching, naked shot-put, or whatever else those crazy Greeks used to do to win a bunch of leaves.**

"Actually the wrestling was the naked part. And also my favorite part," said Zeus offhandedly.

"GROSS!" Leo yelled. "TMI!"

'**Ghosts linger in this place,' Hazel murmured. 'A lot of pain is embedded in these stones.'**

'**Please tell me you have a plan,' Leo said. 'Preferably one that doesn't involve embedding my pain in the stones.'**

**Hazel's eyes were stormy and distant, the way they'd been in the House of Hades – like she was peering into a different layer of reality. 'This was the players' entrance. Nike said we have five minutes to prepare. Then she'll expect us to pass under this archway and begin the games. We won't be allowed to leave that field until three of us are dead.'**

**Percy leaned on his sword. 'I'm pretty sure death matches weren't an Olympic sport.'**

"During ancient times they actually were," informed Annabeth.

'**Well, they are today,' Hazel warned. 'But I might be able to give us an edge. When we pass through, I could raise some obstacles on the field – hiding places to buy us some time.'**

**Frank frowned. 'You mean like on the Field of Mars – trenches, tunnels, that kind of thing? You can do that with the Mist?'**

'**I think so,' Hazel said. 'Nike would probably like to see an obstacle course. I can play her expectations against her. But it would be more than that. I can use any subterranean gateway – even this arch – to access the Labyrinth. I can raise part of the Labyrinth to the surface.'**

'**Whoa, whoa, whoa.' Percy made a time-out sign. 'The Labyrinth is bad. We discussed this.'**

'**Hazel, he's right.' Leo remembered all too well how she'd led him through the illusionary maze in the House of Hades. They'd almost died about every six feet. 'I mean, I know you're good with magic. But we've already got four screaming Nikettes to worry about –'**

'**You'll have to trust me,' she said. 'We've only got a couple of minutes now. When we pass through the arch, I can at least manipulate the playing field to our advantage.'**

**Percy exhaled through his nose. 'Twice now, I've been forced to fight in stadiums – once in Rome, and before that in the Labyrinth. I hate playing games for people's amusement.'**

"Aww," said Dionysus. "It's fun, though!"

"It's really not," said Percy.

'**We all do,' Hazel said. 'But we have to put Nike off guard. We'll pretend to fight until we can neutralize those Nikettes – ugh, that's an awful name. Then we subdue Nike, like Juno said.'**

'**Makes sense,' Frank agreed. 'You felt how powerful Nike was, trying to put us at each other's throats. If she's sending out those vibes to all the Greeks and Romans, there's no way we'll be able to prevent a war. We've got to get her under control.'**

'**And how do we do that?' Percy asked. 'Bonk her on the head and stuff her in a sack?'**

Thalia snorted.

**Leo's mental gears started to turn.**

'**Actually,' he said, 'you're not far off. Uncle Leo brought some toys for all you good little demigods.'**

"AND.. that's the end. Who wants to read next?" asked Annabeth.

"I will", said Frank.

"XII Leo"


	13. Leo XII

**XII**

**Leo**

**TWO MINUTES WASN'T NEARLY ENOUGH TIME.**

**Leo hoped he'd given everybody the right gadgets and adequately explained what all the buttons did. Otherwise things would get ugly.**

Hephaestus sighed. "The downsides of being a genius…"

**While he was lecturing Frank and Percy on Archimedean mechanics, Hazel stared at the stone archway and muttered under her breath.**

**Nothing seemed to change in the big grassy field beyond, but Leo was sure Hazel had some Mistalicious tricks up her sleeve.**

"Leo…." Hazel laughed.

**He was just explaining to Frank how to avoid getting decapitated by his own Archimedes sphere when the sound of trumpets echoed through the stadium. Nike's chariot appeared on the field, the Nikettes arrayed in front of her with their spears and laurels raised.**

'**Begin!' the goddess bellowed.**

Ares roared in anticipation. "A fight!"

**Percy and Leo sprinted through the archway. Immediately, the field shimmered and became a maze of brick walls and trenches. They ducked behind the nearest wall and ran to the left. Back at the archway, Frank yelled, 'Uh, die, Graecus scum!' A poorly aimed arrow sailed over Leo's head.**

'**More vicious!' Nike yelled. 'Kill like you mean it!'**

"Yeah! Kill like you mean it!" agreed Ares.

**Leo glanced at Percy. 'Ready?'**

**Percy hefted a bronze grenade. 'I hope you labelled these right.' He yelled, 'Die, Romans!' and lobbed the grenade over the wall.**

Travis snorted in laughter.

**BOOM! Leo couldn't see the explosion, but the smell of buttery popcorn filled the air.**

'**Oh, no!' Hazel wailed. 'Popcorn! Our fatal weakness!'**

Even more laughter joined.

"Who knew demigods could be this funny?" laughed Zeus.

"I think it's more of a teenage angst kind of thing," mused Percy.

"Yeah Heracles is a _butt_," agreed a small camper who looked to be about nine. Heracles growled in anger while everyone else laughed.

**Frank shot another arrow over their heads. Leo and Percy scrambled to the left, ducking through a maze of walls that seemed to shift and turn on their own. Leo could still see open sky above him, but claustrophobia started to set in, making it hard for him to breathe.**

Nico shifted in his seat. He had struggled with claustrophobia as well ever since his time in the jar, and even hearing about it second-hand wasn't fun.

"You okay?" whispered Will.

"Yeah, fine."

**Somewhere behind them, Nike yelled, 'Try harder! That popcorn was not fatal!'**

**From the rumble of her chariot wheels, Leo guessed she was circling the perimeter of the field – Victory taking a victory lap.**

**Another grenade exploded over Percy's and Leo's heads. They dived into a trench as the green starburst of Greek fire singed Leo's hair. Fortunately, Frank had aimed high enough that the blast only looked impressive.**

'**Better,' Nike called out, 'but where is your aim? Don't you want this circlet of leaves?'**

"LEAF HAT" yelled Dakota.

"It's a _laurel_, Dakota. You should _know _this," groaned Reyna.

'**I wish the river was closer,' Percy muttered. 'I want to drown her.'**

'**Be patient, water boy.'**

'**Don't call me water boy.'**

"Squirtle," suggested Leo.

"Mister Fishy," countered Jason.

"Magikarp," interjected Travis.

Percy groaned. "Oh my gods…"

"Everything changed when the fire nation attacked…" whispered Leo.

"READ!"

**Leo pointed across the field. The walls had shifted, revealing one of the Nikettes about thirty yards away, standing with her back to them. Hazel must be doing her thing – manipulating the maze to isolate their targets.**

All the campers who had participated in the battle of the Labyrinth looked uncomfortable.

'**I distract,' Leo said, 'you attack. Ready?'**

**Percy nodded. 'Go.'**

**He dashed to the left as Leo pulled a ball-peen hammer from his tool belt and yelled, 'Hey, Bronze Butt!'**

**The Nikette turned as Leo threw. His hammer clanged harmlessly off the metal lady's chest, but she must have been annoyed. She marched towards him, raising her barbed-wire laurel wreath.**

"I want one!" yelled Ares.

'**Oops.' Leo ducked as the metal circlet spun over his head. The wreath hit a wall behind him, punching a hole straight through the bricks, then arced backwards through the air like a boomerang. As the Nikette raised her hand to catch it, Percy emerged from the trench behind her and slashed with Riptide, cutting the Nikette in half at the waist. The metal wreath shot past him and embedded in a marble column.**

"YES!" yelled Ares again.

'**Foul!' the victory goddess cried. The walls shifted and Leo saw her barrelling towards them in her chariot. 'You don't attack the Nikai unless you wish to die!'**

**A trench appeared in the goddess's path, causing her horses to balk. Leo and Percy ran for cover. Out of the corner of his eye, maybe fifty feet away, Leo saw Frank the grizzly bear jump from the top of a wall and flatten another Nikette. Two Bronze Butts down, two more to go.**

'**No!' Nike screamed in outrage. 'No, no, no! Your lives are forfeit! Nikai, attack!'**

**Leo and Percy leaped behind a wall. They lay there for a second, trying to catch their breath.**

**Leo had trouble getting his bearings, but he guessed that was part of Hazel's plan. She was causing the terrain to shift around them – opening new trenches, changing the slope of the land, throwing up new walls and columns. With luck, she would make it harder for the Nikettes to find them. Travelling just twenty feet might take them several minutes.**

**Still, Leo hated being disoriented. It reminded him of his helplessness in the House of Hades – the way Clytius had smothered him in darkness, snuffing out his fire, possessing his voice. It reminded him of Khione, plucking him off the deck of the Argo II with a gust of wind and shooting him halfway across the Mediterranean.**

Everyone looked sad. It was a common demigod experience to feel helpless, out of control. In school, or at home, or watching your friends die. Being a demigod was harder than it looked. _Maybe reading these books will make the gods help us more_, they thought.

**It was bad enough being scrawny and weak. If Leo couldn't control his own senses, his own voice, his own body … that didn't leave him much to rely on.**

"Hey you're not weak," said Piper to Leo.

"Thanks."

'**Hey,' Percy said, 'if we don't make it out of this –'**

'**Shut up, man. We're going to make it.'**

Hestia nodded. Maintaining hope was one of the most valuable things a person could do.

'**If we don't, I want you to know – I feel bad about Calypso. I failed her.'**

"You didn't fail her," sniffed Zeus. "She deserved what she got."

"No, no she didn't!" exclaimed Leo.

"She's a Titan! An enemy, and she helped her father attack us!"

"Stop pretending you know everything," Leo growled. "You don't. Calypso is a good person. She just made a mistake. You've probably made more than her. And besides, that battle was ages ago. Shouldn't she have made up for her so-called crimes by now?"

"You can never trust a Titan," rumbled Zeus darkly.

` "Dude just stop. Calypso was nice. She saved me, and Leo, and a bunch of other heroes. Let's just keep reading," Percy snapped.

**Leo stared at him, dumbfounded. 'You know about me and –'**

'**The Argo II is a small ship.' Percy grimaced. 'Word got around. I just … well, when I was in Tartarus, I was reminded that I hadn't followed through on my promise to Calypso. I asked the gods to free her and then … I just assumed they would. With me getting amnesia and getting sent to Camp Jupiter and all, I didn't think about Calypso much after that. I'm not making excuses. I should have made sure the gods kept their promise. Anyway, I'm glad you found her. You promised to find a way back to her, and I just wanted to say, if we do survive all this, I'll do anything I can to help you. That's a promise I will keep.'**

**Leo was speechless. Here they were, hiding behind a wall in the middle of a magical war zone, with grenades and grizzly bears and Bronze Butt Nikettes to worry about, and Percy pulls this on him.**

'**Man, what is your problem?' Leo grumbled.**

**Percy blinked. 'So … I guess we're not cool?'**

'**Of course we're not cool! You're as bad as Jason! I'm trying to resent you for being all perfect and hero-y and whatnot. Then you go and act like a standup guy. How am I supposed to hate you if you apologize and promise to help and stuff?'**

"It's a real problem," sniffed Leo.

**A smile tugged at the corner of Percy's mouth. 'Sorry about that.'**

**The ground rumbled as another grenade exploded, sending spirals of whipped cream into the sky. 'That's Hazel's signal,' Leo said. 'They've taken down another Nikette.'**

"WHIPPED CREAM!" yelled the Hermes kids.

**Percy peeked around the corner of the wall.**

**Until this moment, Leo hadn't realized how much he'd resented Percy. The dude had always intimidated him. Knowing Calypso had had a crush on Percy had made the feeling ten times worse. But now the knot of anger in his gut started to unravel. Leo just couldn't dislike the guy. Percy seemed sincere about being sorry and wanting to help.**

"Uh…. thanks?" Percy said confusedly.

**Besides, Leo finally had confirmation that Percy Jackson was out of the picture with Calypso. The air was cleared. All Leo had to do was to find his way back to Ogygia. And he would, assuming he survived the next ten days.**

'**One Nikette left,' Percy said. 'I wonder –'**

**Somewhere close by, Hazel cried out in pain.**

Gasps.

**Instantly, Leo was on his feet.**

'**Dude, wait!' Percy called, but Leo plunged through the maze, his heart pounding.**

**The walls fell away on either side. Leo found himself in an open stretch of field. Frank stood at the far end of the stadium, shooting flaming arrows at Nike's chariot as the goddess bellowed insults and tried to find a path to him across the shifting network of trenches.**

**Hazel was closer – maybe sixty feet away. The fourth Nikette had obviously sneaked up on her. Hazel was limping away from her attacker, her jeans ripped, her left leg bleeding. She parried the metal lady's spear with her huge cavalry sword, but she was about to be overpowered. All around her, the Mist flickered like a dying strobe light. She was losing control of the magic maze.**

"Oh no!"

'**I'll help her,' Percy said. 'You stick to the plan. Get Nike's chariot.'**

'**But the plan was to eliminate all four Nikettes first!'**

'**So change the plan and then stick to it!'**

"That pretty much summarizes 100% of our missions," laughed Annabeth.

'**That doesn't even make sense, but go! Help her!'**

**Percy rushed to Hazel's defence. Leo darted towards Nike, yelling, 'Hey! I want a participation award!'**

"What even is that!" exclaimed Athena.

'**Gah!' The goddess pulled the reins and turned her chariot in his direction. 'I will destroy you!'**

"Must be some kind of weapon of mass destruction…" she muttered to herself.

'**Good!' Leo yelled. 'Losing is way better than winning!'**

"Oh I see," Athena corrected.

'**WHAT?' Nike threw her mighty spear, but her aim was off with the rocking of the chariot. Her weapon skittered into the grass. Sadly, a new one appeared in her hands.**

**She urged her horses to a full gallop. The trenches disappeared, leaving an open field, perfect for running down small Latino demigods.**

'**Hey!' Frank yelled from across the stadium. 'I want a participation award, too! Everybody wins!'**

The campers and legionnaires started laughing.

**He shot a well-aimed arrow that landed in the back of Nike's chariot and began to burn. Nike ignored it. Her eyes were fixed on Leo.**

'**Percy … ?' Leo's voice sounded like a hamster's squeak. From his tool belt, he fished out an Archimedes sphere and set the concentric circles to arm the device.**

**Percy was still sparring with the last metal lady. Leo couldn't wait.**

**He threw the sphere in the chariot's path. It hit the ground and burrowed in, but he needed Percy to spring the trap. If Nike sensed any threat, she apparently didn't think much of it. She kept charging at Leo.**

**The chariot was twenty feet from the grenade. Fifteen feet.**

'**Percy!' Leo yelled. 'Operation Water Balloon!'**

"That's your new nickname, Percy!" exclaimed Connor.

"I still think Toilet Face is better," Clarisse muttered.

"...what?" said Gwen.

**Unfortunately, Percy was a little busy getting smacked around. The Nikette thumped him backwards with the butt of her spear. She threw her wreath with such force it knocked Percy's sword from his grip. Percy stumbled. The metallic lady moved in for the kill.**

**Leo howled. He knew the distance was too far. He knew that if he didn't jump out of the way now Nike would run him over. But that didn't matter. His friends were about to be skewered. He thrust out his hand and shot a white-hot bolt of fire straight at the Nikette.**

"Why are all heroes so self-sacrificing!" groaned Juno. "I had plans!"

"Bad plans," snickered Annabeth.

**It literally melted her face. The Nikette staggered, her spear still raised. Before she could regain her balance, Hazel thrust her spatha and impaled the metal lady through the chest. The Nikette crashed into the grass.**

**Percy turned towards the victory goddess's chariot. Just as those huge white horses were about to turn Leo into roadkill, the carriage passed over Leo's sunken grenade, which exploded in a high-pressure geyser. Water blasted upward, flipping the chariot – horses, carriage, goddess and all.**

**Back in Houston, Leo used to live with his mom in an apartment right off the Gulf Freeway. He heard car crashes at least once a week, but this sound was worse – Celestial bronze crumpling, wood splintering, stallions screaming and a goddess wailing in two distinct voices, both of them very surprised.**

"If you would like, I could attempt to recreate the sound for dramatic effect," suggested Apollo.

"NO!" everyone else yelled.

**Hazel collapsed. Percy caught her. Frank ran towards them from across the field.**

**Leo was on his own as the goddess Nike disentangled herself from the wreckage and rose to face him. Her braided hairdo now resembled a stepped-on cow pat. A laurel wreath was stuck around her left ankle. Her horses got to their hooves and galloped away in a panic, dragging the soaked, half-burning wreckage of the chariot behind them.**

Zeus sighed. He really hated how these future demigods had no respect for the divine. He would have to change that when the time came.

'**YOU!' Nike glared at Leo, her eyes hotter and brighter than her metal wings. 'You dare?'**

**Leo didn't feel very courageous, but he forced a smile. 'I know, right? I'm awesome! Do I win a leaf hat now?'**

"LEAF HAT!" chanted the legionnaires. Reyna put her head in her hands.

'**You will die!' The goddess raised her spear.**

'**Hold that thought!' Leo dug around in his tool belt. 'You haven't seen my best trick yet. I have a weapon guaranteed to win any contest!'**

**Nike hesitated. 'What weapon? What do you mean?'**

'**My ultimate zap-o-matic!' He pulled out a second Archimedes sphere – the one he'd spent a whole thirty seconds modifying before they entered the stadium. 'How many laurel wreaths have you got? Because I'm gonna win them all.'**

**He fiddled with dials, hoping he'd done his calculations right.**

**Leo had got better at making spheres, but they still weren't completely reliable. More like twenty percent reliable.**

Almost all the Hephaestus and Vulcan children were dying of envy about using the Archimedes spheres. Leo was _so _lucky, in their opinion.

**It would've been nice to have Calypso's help weaving the Celestial bronze filaments. She was an ace at weaving. Or Annabeth: she was no slouch. But Leo had done his best, rewiring the sphere to carry out two completely different functions.**

"Thank you," said Annabeth.

'**Behold!' Leo clicked the final dial. The sphere opened. One side elongated into a gun handle. The other side unfolded into a miniature radar dish made of Celestial bronze mirrors.**

**Nike frowned. 'What is that supposed to be?'**

'**An Archimedes death ray!' Leo said. 'I finally perfected it. Now give me all the prizes.'**

'**Those things don't work!' Nike yelled. 'They proved it on television! Besides, I'm an immortal goddess. You can't destroy me!'**

"Buzzfeed Unsolved knows nothing!" exclaimed Malcolm. "They _think_ they're so smart, but really they know nothing! They're wrong, incorrect, and - "

"Dude," Will interrupted. "Are you okay?"

"No."

'**Watch closely,' Leo said. 'Are you watching?'**

**Nike could've zapped him into a grease spot or speared him like a cheese wedge, but her curiosity got the best of her. She stared straight into the dish as Leo flipped the switch. Leo knew to look away. Even so, the blazing beam of light left him seeing spots.**

'**Gah!' The goddess staggered. She dropped her spear and clutched at her eyes. 'I'm blind! I'm blind!'**

**Leo hit another button on his death ray. It collapsed back into a sphere and began to hum. Leo counted silently to three, then tossed the sphere at the goddess's feet.**

**FOOM! Metal filaments shot upward, wrapping Nike in a bronze net. She wailed, falling sideways as the net constricted, forcing her two forms – Greek and Roman – into a quivering, out-of-focus whole.**

'**Trickery!' Her doubled voices buzzed like muffled alarm clocks. 'Your death ray did not even kill me!'**

'**I don't need to kill you,' Leo said. 'I vanquished you just fine.'**

'**I will simply change form!' she cried. 'I will rip apart your silly net! I will destroy you!'**

'**Yeah, see, you can't.' Leo hoped he was right. 'That's high-quality Celestial bronze netting, and I'm a son of Hephaestus. He's kind of an expert on catching goddesses in nets.'**

"My finest hour…" Hephaestus mused fondly. "The boy takes after his father." Leo literally beamed in happiness at acknowledgement, but obviously he didn't show it 'cause you know. He's too cool for that.

'**No. Nooooo!'**

**Leo left her thrashing and cursing, and went to check on his friends. Percy looked all right, just sore and bruised. Frank had propped Hazel up and was feeding her ambrosia. The cut on her leg had stopped bleeding, though her jeans were pretty much ruined.**

"Not the jeans!" Aphrodite cried.

'**I'm okay,' she said. 'Just too much magic.'**

'**You were awesome, Levesque.' Leo did his best Hazel imitation: 'Popcorn! Our fatal weakness!'**

Snickers.

**She smiled wanly. Together the four of them walked over to Nike, who was still writhing and flapping her wings in the net like a golden chicken.**

'**What do we do with her?' Percy asked.**

'**Take her aboard the Argo II,' Leo said. 'Chuck her in one of the horse stalls.'**

**Hazel's eyes widened. 'You're going to keep the goddess of victory in the stable?'**

"Obviously, Hazel, why would you ever doubt my excellent plans?"

'**Why not? Once we sort things out between Greeks and Romans, the gods should go back to their normal selves. Then we can free her and she can … you know … grant us victory.'**

'**Grant you victory?' the goddess cried. 'Never! You will suffer for this outrage! Your blood shall be spilled! One of you here – one of you four – is fated to die battling Gaia!'**

The room went silent. The happier mood from the victory described in the book had switched to a darker gloomier one.

"Keep reading," Reyna instructed.

**Leo's intestines tied themselves into a slipknot. 'How do you know that?'**

'**I can foresee victories!' Nike yelled. 'You will have no success without death! Release me and fight each other! It is better you die here than face what is to come!'**

"Not true! We won't give up hope!" exclaimed Hazel. Hestia nodded in agreement.

**Hazel stuck the point of her spatha under Nike's chin. 'Explain.' Her voice was harder than Leo had ever heard. 'Which of us will die? How do we stop it?'**

'**Ah, child of Pluto! Your magic helped you cheat in this contest, but you cannot cheat destiny. One of you will die. One of you must die!'**

'**No,' Hazel insisted. 'There's another way. There is always another path.'**

"Yeah…" muttered the future demigods. Too often did a prophecy not turn out the way they predicted. Maybe the death was figurative. Maybe it was temporary. Nobody knew just yet. Obviously they knew who died (Leo) because they had already lived it, but Leo was here wasn't he? Maybe there is another way.

'**Hecate taught you this?' Nike laughed. 'You would hope for the physician's cure, perhaps? But that is impossible. Too much stands in your way: the poison of Pylos, the chained god's heartbeat in Sparta, the curse of Delos! No, you cannot cheat death.'**

"OHHH" said Apollo. "I get it!"

"What!" said the campers. "Tell us!"

"SPOILERS!" yelled Leo.

**Frank knelt. He gathered up the net under Nike's chin and raised her face to his. 'What are you talking about? How do we find this cure?'**

'**I will not help you,' Nike growled. 'I will curse you with my power, net or no!'**

**She began to mutter in Ancient Greek.**

**Frank looked up, scowling. 'Can she really cast magic through this net?'**

'**Heck if I know,' Leo said.**

"Can she?" asked Annabeth to Hephaestus.

"Uhhh…." he stalled. "Let's keep reading and find out."

**Frank let go of the goddess. He took off one of his shoes, peeled off his sock and stuffed it in the goddess's mouth.**

'**Dude,' Percy said, 'that is disgusting.'**

'**Mpppphhh!' Nike complained. 'Mppppphhh!'**

'**Leo,' Frank said grimly, 'you got duct tape?'**

'**Never leave home without it.' He fished a roll from his tool belt, and in no time Frank had wrapped it around Nike's head, securing the gag in her mouth.**

'**Well, it's not a laurel wreath,' Frank said, 'but it's a new kind of victory circle: the gag of duct tape.'**

Dakota snorted in laughter.

'**Zhang,' Leo said, 'you got style.'**

"Thank you!" Frank beamed.

**Nike thrashed and grunted until Percy nudged her with his toe. 'Hey, shut up. You behave or we'll get Arion back here and let him nibble your wings. He loves gold.'**

**Nike shrieked once, then became still and quiet.**

'**So …' Hazel sounded a little nervous. 'We have one tied-up goddess. Now what?'**

**Frank folded his arms. 'We go looking for this physician's cure … whatever that is. Because, personally, I like cheating death.'**

"It's personally my favorite thing to do in the morning," said Reyna. Everyone stared at her.

"What? I can be sarcastic!"

**Leo grinned. 'Poison in Pylos? A chained god's heartbeat in Sparta? A curse in Delos? Oh, yeah. This is gonna be fun!'**

"Who wants to read?" Annabeth asked.

"I will," said Apollo.

"XIII Nico," he read. "Ooh! A new perspective! You know, I wonder - "

"KEEP READING!" everyone yelled.


	14. Nico XIII

**XIII**

** Nico**

** THE LAST THING NICO HEARD was Coach Hedge grumbling, ‘Well, this isn’t good.’**

** He wondered what he’d done wrong this time. Maybe he’d teleported them into a den of Cyclopes, or a thousand feet above another volcano. There was nothing he could do about it. His vision was gone. His other senses were shutting down. His knees buckled and he passed out.**

“Are you alright?” asked Will to Nico.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Duh.” Nico grumbled. He didn’t particularly like all these people reading his inner thoughts. The fates may have thought this was a good idea, but Nico disagreed.

** He tried to make the most of his unconsciousness.**

“I agree,” said Clovis.

** Dreams and death were old friends of his. He knew how to navigate their dark borderland. He sent out his thoughts, searching for Thalia Grace.**

Thalia sat up at the mention of herself.

** He rushed past the usual fragments of painful memories – his mother smiling down at him, her face illuminated by the sunlight rippling off the Venetian Grand Canal; his sister Bianca laughing as she pulled him across the Mall in Washington, D.C., her green floppy hat shading her eyes and the splash of freckles across her nose. He saw Percy Jackson on a snowy cliff outside Westover Hall, shielding Nico and Bianca from the manticore as Nico clutched a Mythomagic figurine and whispered, I’m scared. He saw Minos, his old ghostly mentor, leading him through the Labyrinth. Minos’s smile was cold and cruel. Don’t worry, son of Hades. You will have your revenge.**

The campers muttered and shifted nervously. It was strange to hear about Nico’s past - he was always so quiet and sullen. In actuality, many of them had never thought about much about Nico at all.

Percy Jackson looked down sadly.

** Nico couldn’t stop the memories. They cluttered his dreams like the ghosts of Asphodel – an aimless, sorrowful mob pleading for attention. Save me, they seemed to whisper. Remember me. Help me. Comfort me.**

** He didn’t dare stop to dwell on them. They would only crush him with wants and regrets. The best he could do was to stay focused and push through.**

** I am the son of Hades, he thought. I go where I wish. The darkness is my birthright.**

“That’s right,” rumbled Hades. 

** He forged ahead through a grey-and-black terrain, looking for the dreams of Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus. Instead, the ground dissolved at his feet and he fell into a familiar backwater – the Hypnos cabin at Camp Half-Blood.**

** Buried under piles of feather comforters, snoring demigods nestled in their bunks. Above the mantel, a dark tree branch dripped milky water from the River Lethe into a bowl. A cheerful fire crackled in the fireplace. In front of it, in a leather armchair, dozed the head counsellor for Cabin Fifteen – a pot-bellied guy with unruly blond hair and a gentle bovine face.**

** ‘Clovis,’ Nico growled, ‘for the gods’ sake, stop dreaming so powerfully!’**

“Yeah Clovis,” Travis exclaimed. “Stop dreaming so powerfully!”

Connor grinned in mock disapproval. “Honestly, Clovis. Control yourself.”

** Clovis’s eyes fluttered open. He turned and stared at Nico, though Nico knew this was simply part of Clovis’s own dreamscape. The actual Clovis would still be snoring in his armchair back at camp.**

** ‘Oh, hi …’ Clovis yawned wide enough to swallow a minor god. ‘Sorry. Did I pull you off course again?’**

** Nico gritted his teeth. There was no point getting upset. The Hypnos cabin was like Grand Central Station for dream activity. You couldn’t travel anywhere without going through it once in a while.**

“Wait…” mused a legionnaire. “If you’re a son of Hades, how do you know so much about dreams?”

“Dreams are part of my domain,” Hades said. “Have you not heard the stories of how sleep is just a temporary death?”

“...Right,” answered the legionnaire.

** ‘As long as I’m here,’ Nico said, ‘pass along a message. Tell Chiron I’m on my way with a couple of friends. We’re bringing the Athena Parthenos.’**

** Clovis rubbed his eyes. ‘So it’s true? How are you bringing it? Did you rent a van or something?’**

“Yeah we  _ drove _ across the ocean,” snorted Coach Hedge.

** Nico explained as concisely as possible. Messages sent through dreams tended to get fuzzy around the edges, especially when you were dealing with Clovis. The simpler, the better.**

“I didn’t know that,” a camper to their friend.

** ‘We’re being followed by a hunter,’ Nico said. ‘One of Gaia’s giants, I think. Can you get that message to Thalia Grace? You’re better at finding people in dreams than I am. I need her advice.’**

“Yes!” exclaimed Thalia. “That’s me!”

**‘I’ll try.’ Clovis fumbled for a cup of hot chocolate on the side table. ‘Uh, before you go, do you have a second?’**

** ‘Clovis, this is a dream,’ Nico reminded him. ‘Time is fluid.’**

“Duh, Clovis,” said Connor. 

“ _ Obviously _ , Clovis,” said Travis. 

** Even as he said it, Nico worried about what was happening in the real world. His physical self might be plummeting to his death, or surrounded by monsters. Still, he couldn’t force himself to wake up – not after the amount of energy he’d expended on shadow-travel.**

“Don’t worry,” Reyna said to the concerned looks of those around them. “We took care of him.”

** Clovis nodded. ‘Right … I was thinking you should probably see what happened today at the council of war. I slept through some of it, but –’**

“Like always,” muttered an Ares camper.

** ‘Show me,’ Nico said.**

** The scene changed. Nico found himself in the rec room of the Big House, all the senior camp leaders gathered around the ping-pong table.**

“PING PONG TABLE!” all the Romans said, astonished. 

“-_these_ _were the people we were fighting_?” muttered one legionnaire. 

“Hey!” yelled Clarisse. “Don’t knock it ‘till you’ve tried it!”

“Yeah!” Travis agreed. “We happen to  _ like _ our ping pong table!”

“- _ think they’re so much better than us, _ ” one Hermes camper whispered. “ _ What do they have - a foosball table? Ping pong isn’t that bad. _ ”

** At one end sat Chiron the centaur, his equine posterior collapsed into his magic wheelchair so he looked like a regular human. His curly brown hair and beard had more grey streaks than a few months ago. Deep lines etched his face.**

** ‘– things we can’t control,’ he was saying. ‘Now let’s review our defences. Where do we stand?’**

** Clarisse from the Ares cabin sat forward. She was the only one in full armour, which was typical. Clarisse probably slept in her combat gear. As she spoke, she gestured with her dagger, which made the other counsellors lean away from her.**

Clarisse straightened proudly at her mention.

** ‘Our defensive line is mostly solid,’ she said. ‘The campers are as ready to fight as they’ll ever be. We control the beach. Our triremes are unchallenged on Long Island Sound, but those stupid giant eagles dominate our airspace. Inland, in all three directions, the barbarians have us completely cut off.’**

** ‘They’re Romans,’ said Rachel Dare, doodling with a marker on the knee of her jeans. ‘Not barbarians.’**

** Clarisse pointed her dagger at Rachel. ‘What about their allies, huh? Did you see that tribe of two-headed men that arrived yesterday? Or the glowing red dog-headed guys with the big poleaxes? They look pretty barbaric to me. It would’ve been nice if you’d foreseen any of that, if your Oracle power didn’t break down when we needed it most!’**

“Infighting,” sniffed Octavian.

** Rachel’s face turned as red as her hair. ‘That’s hardly my fault. Something is wrong with Apollo’s gifts of prophecy. If I knew how to fix it –’**

** ‘She’s right.’ Will Solace, head counsellor for the Apollo cabin, put his hand gently on Clarisse’s wrist. Not many campers could’ve done that without getting stabbed, but Will had a way of defusing people’s anger. He got her to lower her dagger. ‘Everyone in our cabin has been affected. It’s not just Rachel.’**

** Will’s shaggy blond hair and pale blue eyes reminded Nico of Jason Grace, but the similarities ended there.**

** Jason was a fighter. You could tell from the intensity of his stare, his constant alertness, the coiled-up energy in his frame. Will Solace was more like a lanky cat stretched out in the sunshine. His movements were relaxed and nonthreatening, his gaze soft and far away. In his faded SURF BARBADOS T-shirt, his cutoff shorts and flip-flops, he looked about as unaggressive as a demigod could get, but Nico knew he was brave under fire. During the Battle of Manhattan, Nico had seen him in action – the camp’s best combat medic, risking his life to save wounded campers.**

“Aw, thanks!” beamed Will. 

** ‘We don’t know what’s going on at Delphi,’ Will continued. ‘My dad hasn’t answered any prayers, or appeared in any dreams … I mean, all the gods have been silent, but this isn’t like Apollo. Something’s wrong.’**

“Well that’s not true because I’m never wrong,” said Apollo.

Artemis interrupted, “Actually, there was that one time-” 

“Shut up!”

** Across the table, Jake Mason grunted. ‘Probably this Roman dirt-wipe who’s leading the attack – Octavian what’s-his-name. If I was Apollo and my descendant was acting that way, I’d go into hiding out of shame.’**

Octavian frowned.

** ‘I agree,’ Will said. ‘I wish I was a better archer … I wouldn’t mind shooting my Roman relative off his high horse. Actually, I wish I could use any of my father’s gifts to stop this war.’ He looked down at his own hands with distaste. ‘Unfortunately, I’m just a healer.’**

“Just a healer,” scoffed Nico. “You’re not just a healer. You’re important too, Will.”

Will blushed a little bit.

** ‘Your talents are essential,’ Chiron said. ‘I fear we’ll need them soon enough. As for seeing the future … what about the harpy Ella? Has she offered any advice from the Sibylline Books?’**

** Rachel shook her head. ‘The poor thing is scared out of her wits. Harpies hate being imprisoned. Ever since the Romans surrounded us … well, she feels trapped. She knows Octavian means to capture her. It’s all Tyson and I can do to keep her from flying away.’**

** ‘Which would be suicide.’ Butch Walker, son of Iris, crossed his burly arms. ‘With those Roman eagles in the air, flying isn’t safe. I’ve already lost two pegasi.’**

** ‘At least Tyson brought some of his Cyclops friends to help out,’ Rachel said. ‘That’s a little good news.’**

** Over by the refreshment table, Connor Stoll laughed. He had a fistful of Ritz crackers in one hand and a can of Easy Cheese in the other. ‘A dozen full-grown Cyclopes? That’s a lot of good news! Plus, Lou Ellen and the Hecate kids have been putting up magic barriers, and the whole Hermes cabin has been lining the hills with traps and snares and all kinds of nice surprises for the Romans!’**

“ _ Easy Cheese _ ,” choked out one of the centurions.

** Jake Mason frowned. ‘Most of which you stole from Bunker Nine and the Hephaestus cabin.’**

** Clarisse grumbled in agreement. ‘They even stole the landmines from around the Ares cabin. How do you steal live landmines?’**

“With skill,” sniffed Travis.

** ‘We commandeered them for the war effort.’ Connor sprayed a glob of Easy Cheese into his mouth. ‘Besides, you guys have plenty of toys. You can share!’**

“Yeah, Clarisse.” yelled a Hermes camper. “Sharing is caring!”

** Chiron turned to his left, where the satyr Grover Underwood sat in silence, fingering his reed pipes. ‘Grover? What news from the nature spirits?’**

** Grover heaved a sigh. ‘Even on a good day, it’s hard to organize nymphs and dryads. With Gaia stirring, they’re almost as disoriented as the gods. Katie and Miranda from the Demeter cabin are out there right now trying to help, but if the Earth Mother wakes …’ He looked around the table nervously. ‘Well, I can’t promise the woods will be safe. Or the hills. Or the strawberry fields. Or –’**

** ‘Great.’ Jake Mason elbowed Clovis, who was starting to nod off. ‘So what do we do?’**

** ‘Attack.’ Clarisse pounded the ping-pong table, which made everyone flinch. ‘The Romans are getting more reinforcements by the day. We know they plan to invade on August first. Why should we let them set the timetable? I can only guess they’re waiting to gather more forces. They already outnumber us. We should attack now, before they get any stronger; take the fight to them!’**

** Malcolm, the acting head counsellor for Athena, coughed into his fist. ‘Clarisse, I get your point. But have you studied Roman engineering? Their temporary camp is better defended than Camp Half-Blood. Attack them at their base, and we’d be massacred.’**

Octavian preened himself with pride.

** ‘So we just wait?’ Clarisse demanded. ‘Let them get all their forces prepared while Gaia gets closer to waking? I have Coach Hedge’s pregnant wife under my protection. I am not going to let anything happen to her. I owe Hedge my life. Besides, I’ve been training the campers more than you have, Malcolm. Their morale is low. Everybody is scared. If we’re under siege another nine days –’**

** ‘We should stick to Annabeth’s plan.’ Connor Stoll looked about as serious as he ever did, despite the Easy Cheese around his mouth. ‘We have to hold out until she gets that magic Athena statue back here.’**

“Thank you, Connor,” Annabeth said.

** Clarisse rolled her eyes. ‘You mean if that Roman praetor gets the statue back here. I don’t understand what Annabeth was thinking, collaborating with the enemy. Even if the Roman manages to bring us the statue – which is impossible – we’re supposed to trust that will bring peace? The statue arrives and suddenly the Romans lay down their weapons and start dancing around, throwing flowers?’**

** Rachel set down her marker pen. ‘Annabeth knows what she’s doing. We have to try for peace. Unless we can unite the Greeks and Romans, the gods won’t be healed. Unless the gods are healed, there’s no way we can kill the giants. And unless we kill the giants –’**

** ‘Gaia wakes,’ Connor said. ‘Game over. Look, Clarisse, Annabeth sent me a message from Tartarus. From fricking Tartarus. Anybody who can do that … hey, I listen to them.’**

The gods grimaced at the mention of Tartarus, especially Poseidon. While his son may not have been born yet in this time, Percy seemed like a good kid. Annabeth too. Nobody deserved to go to Tartarus, especially not the two of them.

** Clarisse opened her mouth to reply, but when she spoke it was Coach Hedge’s voice: ‘Nico, wake up. We’ve got problems.’**

“Oh no, problems…” Leo rolled his eyes.

“Who wants to read next?” asked Annabeth.

“I will,” Octavian said.

“Wait Octavian you’re here?” exclaimed Leo. “I hadn’t noticed…”

“Yes, I’ve been here the whole time! I’ve said things! How could you  _ not _ have noticed me!”

Leo interrupted him. “Also, aren’t you dead?” 

In response, a note appeared in the air. Leo picked it up and read, “Though Octavian is dead in the future, we have brought him here because he is important to the story. Sincerely, the Fates.”

“See, I’m important,” Octavian sniffed. He picked up the book and read,

“XIV Nico.”


End file.
